New World to relaunch as co-op ARPG

Kyleran

Have to say, I did not see this coming.

But am not at all surprised as the MMORPG is basically dead at this point.

In a move rarely seen in gaming, New World is set to disappear from storefronts and technically cease to exist. The MMORPG is going to close its doors but it won’t be disappearing fully. Instead, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it will return in the form of New World: Aeternum, a co-op ARPG which will act as replacement, expansion, and spiritual sequel.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/new-world/aeternum-replacement-announced

ValdemarJ

Well, that is the most unexpected gaming news I've heard in, a long time, maybe a few years even. If anything I expected them to shutter it at some point. I honestly had to checks the date of this post, the article, and then both again just to make sure it wasn't April 1st. I'm still not sure.

We'll see what it ends up like and how this will be different from the MMO, but I am intrigued. It looks like they are taking the most popular weapon combo archetypes and making "classes" out of them. I have very mixed feelings about that. I absolutely love the free form weapon combos.

October is just around the corner, so I guess we'll find out more real soon.

Kyleran

Turns out the cake might be a lie, at according to MoP.

Reddit, it probably goes without saying, is in absolute uproar, although most folks seem more baffled at the communication than at anything else – not helped by some websites confusingly reporting this as a shift to a co-op title, which it is not.

“This is like the worst communicated announcement ever. The fact, that there are people thinking NW is switching to single player/coop because of how badly this was explained is insane,” wrote on player.

https://massivelyop.com/2024/06/07/summer-game-fest-2024-amazon-unveils-new-world-aeternum-its-console-relaunch-of-the-mmorpg/

cheyane

It's completely not that but if even game sites are getting is wrong you have to wonder how badly mangled is their announcement. The people who created this misunderstanding should be fired.

cameltosis

Its a console launch and a rebrand, New World isn't shuttering / going co-op. Youll all get to keep your characters, progress and servers. The console launch is also going to be cross-platform, so all you PC master race get to gank all the newbie consolers :-)

What I did read, that interests me, is that I *believe* the game is getting downgraded from Masssively Multiplayer to just regular Multiplayer. Amazon have been removing references to it being an MMO from their literature and announcements, plus they are introducing "shards" (instancing / layering) to the whole game in an effort to improve performance. I don't think they've announced how big each layer will be tho, so it *may* remain an MMO. But I doubt it.

ValdemarJ

Gaming sites didn't really get it wrong. They reposted what was in the New World announcement. The announcement could be much clearer, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. My cynical side says AGS is trying to generate buzz with this approach by getting us to interpret and debate. I expect they will try and draw more people in over the next few weeks with updates containing specifics. Just my guess though.

The templates are a good idea because they can teach new players the synergy between weapons and how states work with them.

I'm open to playing this on Xbox. It depends on the details. I need a lot more of them, but I'm still interested.

lotrlore

We're trying to get clarification on this because the NW website also lists this as an action RPG now, not an MMO. But given that everything they are adding (and they aren't taking away anything) still constitutes a modern MMO, this could simply be semantics at this point. Most traditional ARPGs don't have full PvP zones and 10-person raids; MMOs typically do.

Also, we had this news when it was dropped as well. I just noticed no one linked us on our own site in this thread. While we don't really stop people from linking out, we do hope you'll link us first if we've got it, SEO and all.

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/summer-game-fest-2024-new-world-aeternum-is-bringing-amazons-mmo-to-consoles-october-15th-2000131799

Angrakhan

Don't worry I don't click links to massively on principle.

Ralphie2449

Love it how they keep expanding my list of stupid hardcore design choices the original devs hyped and are now reverted

Mob resistances removed

Dumb ward gear system removed

Mounts introduced

A gazzillion new teleport points to make teleporting better

Sharding introduced

Automated group finder introduced

The original devs were glorifying the lack of all those things cuz muh hardcore social game, only for the devs to follow the data and reach the same conclusion as old mmos.

All those quality of life things existed for a reason, ignoring them cuz you want to make some silly hardcore social game just shows how out of touch you really are with the average casual mmo player aka the majority.

Angrakhan

Yes well it may be a case of too little too late. They'll get a cash infusion from the console launch for sure, but how long before the console player counts dwindle just like the PC counts have? Historically it takes about 3 months from a major launch for New World to be right back in the ditch. I don't expect this launch will be any different. We'll see.

Kyleran

lotrlore said:

We're trying to get clarification on this because the NW website also lists this as an action RPG now, not an MMO. But given that everything they are adding (and they aren't taking away anything) still constitutes a modern MMO, this could simply be semantics at this point. Most traditional ARPGs don't have full PvP zones and 10-person raids; MMOs typically do.

Also, we had this news when it was dropped as well. I just noticed no one linked us on our own site in this thread. While we don't really stop people from linking out, we do hope you'll link us first if we've got it, SEO and all.

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/summer-game-fest-2024-new-world-aeternum-is-bringing-amazons-mmo-to-consoles-october-15th-2000131799

Timing is everything, well that and click baity article titles.   

I ran into both the PCGamer and MOP stories far earlier in the day, both posted many hours before anything showed up on this site. (I checked for one here before posting)

Which BTW, on more than one occassion, news breaks on reddit and other sites which I've actually brought here first, but you folks rarely acknowledge or give me credit.  

Maybe I should start my posts with "First" and a timestamp which includes the time zone I'm in.

Scot

I have held back because I didn't think I understood what was going on, now I have realised nobody is exactly sure what's going on.

Theocritus

It always amazes me when we see threads like  "what MMO should I play?" and no one ever mentions New World...Its like it is forgotten already....I wasnt impressed with the game at all.....I was playing with my nephew and he quit in less than a week....Most people didnt seem to last more than a month.

Germzypie

cameltosis said:

Its a console launch and a rebrand, New World isn't shuttering / going co-op. Youll all get to keep your characters, progress and servers. The console launch is also going to be cross-platform, so all you PC master race get to gank all the newbie consolers :-)

What I did read, that interests me, is that I *believe* the game is getting downgraded from Masssively Multiplayer to just regular Multiplayer. Amazon have been removing references to it being an MMO from their literature and announcements, plus they are introducing "shards" (instancing / layering) to the whole game in an effort to improve performance. I don't think they've announced how big each layer will be tho, so it *may* remain an MMO. But I doubt it.

The shards will only be in the starter zones for now, to help with queing and congestion.  But yeah, what we were told in Discord last night was it will be the same game, just with crossplay.  I think they are calling it action rpg instead of mmorpg because their "data" probably tells them this is what console players want.

cameltosis

Calling New World an ARPG is just accurate: it is, and always has been, an RPG with action combat, hence ARPG.

Asm0deus

It's going to be pretty much the same game just a few changes like console players will join us and they are revamping the story line I do believe and adding in cutscenes etc.

Thus them touting it being an action rgp and dropping the mmo monicker cause frankly the population is low.

For myself  IDC if they don't change the stupid grind and stupid low drop rates on some of the stuff needed for peeps that like to experiment with new gear etc etc I am not going back.

My idea of fun isn't grinding gold (so I can buy what I want from the AH) or one or two ingredients for 6 months non stop just to try a new build and armor set up and I don't see action RGP console fans having much fun doing so either.

lotrlore

Kyleran said:

lotrlore said:

We're trying to get clarification on this because the NW website also lists this as an action RPG now, not an MMO. But given that everything they are adding (and they aren't taking away anything) still constitutes a modern MMO, this could simply be semantics at this point. Most traditional ARPGs don't have full PvP zones and 10-person raids; MMOs typically do.

Also, we had this news when it was dropped as well. I just noticed no one linked us on our own site in this thread. While we don't really stop people from linking out, we do hope you'll link us first if we've got it, SEO and all.

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/summer-game-fest-2024-new-world-aeternum-is-bringing-amazons-mmo-to-consoles-october-15th-2000131799

Timing is everything, well that and click baity article titles.   

I ran into both the PCGamer and MOP stories far earlier in the day, both posted many hours before anything showed up on this site. (I checked for one here before posting)

Which BTW, on more than one occassion, news breaks on reddit and other sites which I've actually brought here first, but you folks rarely acknowledge or give me credit.  

Maybe I should start my posts with "First" and a timestamp which includes the time zone I'm in.

I will say, if we see it on the forums first, we will very often throw a link back to the forums post - though I can't guarantee every writer will do that every time (though I do).  However - because you brought this up and have noticed it is not happening, I'll make sure our team remembers to do this, though I'll be honest, we don't usually look to our forums for breaking news - we use Google News, NewsBlur, email and so much more for that. So it's rare we see it here first.

We have an article on the site about the ARPG/MMO controversy - I'll say the reason you aren't credited there is because I wrote that on Friday when I saw the PCGN article hit my Google feed and scheduled it for today for a weekend post - which also happens pretty frequently.

I do find it funny that our article didn't appear on your feed at the same time as PC Gamers or MOPs - when we all had it under embargo and I pushed it live the second the trailer was over at SGF, just like every other site that had the news prior. I'm fairly certain our timestamps of when the articles all went live is rather similar. I don't know if that is a failure of how our site is laid out, or what, but it's interesting.

Again, we won't ever stop people from posting links to other sites, though I know other sites will often delete posts that link back to other sites that have the same articles (I know some forums see it as, erm, bad form). We just ask you to check here first (which it sounds like you did) and comment on our article or link to us in the forums post discussions. We like our friends at MOP and other places, but we also like healthy link profiles and good SEO, lol.

Kyleran

cameltosis said:

Calling New World an ARPG is just accurate: it is, and always has been, an RPG with action combat, hence ARPG.

Here we go again, once more trying to blur the very clear lines between genres for reasons I cant fathom.

You-all are just messing with us, yes? 

POE, Diablo IV, are now MMORPGs I guess, because a large number of players are online at one time, even if they normally never see each other.

BTW, it's not a "true" ARPG unless it has point and click to move, no WASD allowed. 

cameltosis

Kyleran said:

cameltosis said:

Calling New World an ARPG is just accurate: it is, and always has been, an RPG with action combat, hence ARPG.

Here we go again, once more trying to blur the very clear lines between genres for reasons I cant fathom.

You-all are just messing with us, yes? 

POE, Diablo IV, are now MMORPGs I guess, because a large number of players are online at one time, even if they normally never see each other.

BTW, it's not a "true" ARPG unless it has point and click to move, no WASD allowed. 

I wasn't trying to blur the lines :P

ARPG has always meant any roleplaying game that is primarily based around action combat. I know some people have a very narrow focus of what it means (like PoE and Diablo) but it's always been about action combat.

The combat system has never had an impact on whether the game is massively multiplayer or not. Plus, you know im dying on that hill - 250+ players or it's not massively multiplayer!

(i also greatly dislike ARPGs!)

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Kyleran

cameltosis said:

Kyleran said:

cameltosis said:

Calling New World an ARPG is just accurate: it is, and always has been, an RPG with action combat, hence ARPG.

Here we go again, once more trying to blur the very clear lines between genres for reasons I cant fathom.

You-all are just messing with us, yes? 

POE, Diablo IV, are now MMORPGs I guess, because a large number of players are online at one time, even if they normally never see each other.

BTW, it's not a "true" ARPG unless it has point and click to move, no WASD allowed. 

I wasn't trying to blur the lines :P

ARPG has always meant any roleplaying game that is primarily based around action combat. I know some people have a very narrow focus of what it means (like PoE and Diablo) but it's always been about action combat.

The combat system has never had an impact on whether the game is massively multiplayer or not. Plus, you know im dying on that hill - 250+ players or it's not massively multiplayer!

(i also greatly dislike ARPGs!)

LOL, I feel like I'm in the scene from the movie Battleship.

 [after Hopper's tactic destroys the alien ship] Captain Yugi Nagata : I can't believe that worked! Alex Hopper : Yeah, Art of War, "fight the enemy where they aren't." After all these years, that finally just clicked. Captain Yugi Nagata : But that's not what it means.

tzervo said:

Kyleran said:

cameltosis said:

Calling New World an ARPG is just accurate: it is, and always has been, an RPG with action combat, hence ARPG.

POE, Diablo IV, are now MMORPGs I guess, because a large number of players are online at one time, even if they normally never see each other.

Of course not!! They are MMO*A*RPGs, same as New World!

Yeah, there are (maybe) MMOARPGs out there but POE and Diablo don't qualify.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Kyleran

tzervo said:

Well, according to you New World is an MMO but not an ARPG. According to Cameltosis it is an ARPG but not an MMO (because arbitrary number).

It's so funny watching these discussions when I am not on the receiving end

Yeah, but these debates are enjoyable when one is in the right. 

Robokapp

all the had to do is implement Europeans vs Natives. 

vonryan123

I only have two questions. Did they ever optimize the game? Are they planning on making real servers or are we sticking with the 1995 2-3k max? Would have liked this game more if I was able to play with my friends that are already on a server no one can join...

Kyleran

Looks like they are going towards a mega server approach.