Amazon’s New World is brimming with potential and there’s much to learn. We’ll show you everything you need to know in our New World guide.

After years of delays, Amazon’s looking to hit a home run in the MMO space with New World.

Amazon Game Studios hasn’t exactly been super successful so far. Apparently, even trillion dollar companies can struggle creating good games. After many delays and failed attempts, Amazon might have hit a home run with its upcoming MMO, New World.

New World was announced way back in 2016. Since then, it’s gone through numerous changes and updates to make it a complete, fun game with it’s own unique approach to the MMO format.

Background

Amazon’s New World takes place in the magical world of Aeternum, an island filled with dark power and ominous vibes. As the most recent wave of explorers to the island, the players face the all the dangers of the island but also will discover the remnants of missions past.

Aeternum has a unique draw that attracts so many strangers. Azoth – the substance that corrupts those who touch it. Although it’s rare, it’s extremely powerful and plays an important role in every players’ journey.

new world guide

New World Gameplay

Although Amazon’s design team originally opted for a survival-style game, it eventually changed over time to a formula similar to other modern MMOs.

During your journey, you will be leveling up, finding new weapons and armor, slaying powerful monsters, and crafting powerful items. However, the main goal is defeat the “corrupted,” a powerful cult that worship and use the corruption of the island.

You might notice the combat is Dark Souls inspired and feels similar to Guild Wars 2. There is no traditional tab-targeting like WoW. Instead, you’ll get immersed in an action-style combat with dodging, timing, and blocking. Ranged and magic weapons are aimed manually. The skilled players will really be able to show their prowess and “own noobs.”

New World Classes/Progression

One of the coolest aspects of New World is the lack of traditional classes. Unlike most other MMOs, you can train and level up in any way you like.

There are still traditional roles like tank, healer, or DPS but it happens through character customization and equipment instead of the locked in classes of other MMOs.

To level up, you can kill mobs, complete quests, completing corrupted breaches, complete expeditions, gathering, crafting, and even PVP.

The progression system in New world consists of Weapon Mastery, Faction Reputation, Territory Standing, PVP, and Trade Skills,

Weapon Mastery

You can level up weapons and gain mastery by using them in combat. There are 38 skills to unlock per weapon! Each time you slay a monster, you gain XP with the weapon you had equipped.

Over time, you unlock 19 skill points as you level up. Abilities can be unlocked using the points. The last ability in each tree requires you to spend 10 points in previous tiers of the same tree. This means you can only unlock one tree while still being able to spend points in others.

new world weapons

Trade Skills

There are over 12 different trade skills in New World for players to explore and progress through.

  • Weaponsmithing
  • Armoring
  • Engineering
  • Jewelcrafting
  • Arcana
  • Cooking
  • Furnishing

These trade skills are non-combat skills that players can master through use and leveling up. Trade skills are a core aspect of Character Progression and play a major impact in the player-driven economy.

The trade skills fall into three distinct categories: Crafting, Gathering, and Refining. Each these major categories have several skills within them with its own use and purpose.

Pro Tip: It’s possible for a player to max out every single Trade Skill on one character.

Attributes

As players level up and progress through the game, they can unlock points in five different attributes, each with its own use. The maximum amount of points you can get from leveling is 190. It’s also possible to gain attribute points from gear. Here are the five core attributes:

  • Strength
  • Dexterity
  • Intelligence
  • Focus
  • Constitution

The unique part about New World is the ability to mix and match any combination of armor, weapons, and strategies you want. If you want to a battlemage who has heavy metal armor but has a staff, it’s your choice.

Pro Tip: You can respec for free until level 20. After that, there will be a penalty in coin that increases by level.

Strength

Strength determines your melee power and melee weapon mastery. Some weapons, like the War Hammer, scale only from Strength. Lighter weapons scale mostly from Strength but also from Dexterity.

Dexterity

Dexterity determines the effectiveness of ranged weapons. Muskets, bows, and the rapier scale from Dexterity. Repeated from above, light melee weapons also benefit from Dexterity somewhat.

Intelligence

Intelligence determines your power with magical weapons, including any magic perks your weapon has. Both magic-only weapons like the Fire Staff and weapons with Magical Perks (Flaming Sword) scale from Intelligence.

Focus

Focus has control over your Mana recovery rate and skill cooldown timers. The higher your Focus the quicker you can cast spells and the less they will cost.

Constitution

Constitution has influence over how much Health you have. The higher your Constitution, the tankier you are and the harder you are to take down.

Constitution has diminishing returns as you start to put more points in it. It starts at 25 HP per point and gradually decrease to 21.

Thresholds

Attributes have thresholds that provide additional bonuses and benefits once you unlock them. For instance, if you were to spend 50 points in Strength, you would gain 15% more damage to melee light attacks and a 10% bonus to mining speed.

Thresholds unlock every 50 points in a skill and can dramatically change the dynamic of how you play and can impact your playstyle quite a bit.

Achievements

As of April, New World now has over 400 achievements in-game. Achievements are completed at the account level and unlock some fancy titles and potentially other rewards in the process.

PVP

PvP has quickly become a major part of New World and has attracted many players to the game. The PvP in New World feels rewarding, fun, and not too risky.

Players can start attacking other players once they reach level 10 and join a faction of their choice. After that, they can turn on PvP outside of a settlement or player house. From there, they can journey out into the great beyond and test their skills among others.

new world pvp

The PvP in the game is safe and items aren’t dropped (anymore). There are no PvP servers, but you can fight just about anywhere in the game world.

PvP grants a 10% increased experience bonus for players brave enough to have it enabled. The only real downside of getting killed is having to repair your armor with repair parts.

Because of the action-style combat in New World, the outplay potential is very high and is very skill-based. Highly skilled players should be able to take down a player 10 levels higher.

Dueling allows for an organized 5v5 PvP battle while Open World PvP is mainly driven by faction events that attract players around the map.

Outpost Rush was added earlier that boasts a chaotic 20v20 battleground that’s separate from the main map.

PvE

PvE is another huge part of any MMO, and New World is no exception. There are four major enemy factions in the game.

The Lost: Zombie-like creatures who are the remains of explorers past that got stranded on Aeternum

The Angry Earth: Dryads, beasts, and other elemental creatures that fight against humanity’s push into their realm.

The Ancients: A mysterious old civilization that existed on Aeternum long ago. The Ancients left behind temples and pyramids for to explore.

The Corrupted: The unfortunate souls who have been possessed by Azoth and are known for plotting invasions against the settlers.

Players will have to fight these four groups of enemies and band together to defend humanity’s foothold in Aeternum.

There are Invasions, where hordes of Corrupted or Lost will assault player settlements.

Another great aspect of New World PvE is Corrupted Breaches, world events that appear in territories when they become too corrupted. Players will have to clear waves of enemies and seal the breach using an Azoth-infused powerful staff.

There are different types of Breaches that vary in difficulty. Some of them are meant for grroups and some can be done solo.

Expeditions

Expeditions are another super exciting part of PvE in New World. They are meant for 3-5 players and would be similar to dungeons in other MMOs. There are only a handful of them right now but we expect this list to grow as the game develops.

The current Expeditions are:

  • Amrine Temple
  • Garden of Genesis
  • Lazarus Instrumentality
  • Dynasty Shipyard
  • Shattered Obelisk
  • The Depths

Every Expedition has a unique set of weapons and armors as drops after completing them. They also drop resources exclusive to each one. These resources can be used to craft the different armors and weapons.

To enter an Expedition, at least one player needs a Tuning Orb. These orbs can be crafted from the Stonemasonry trade skills or acquired from quests. The orbs are limited to a certain number per week.

Arenas

Aside from Expeditions, New World will have Arenas, challenging boss encounters meant for groups of 5. Teams will have to work together and communicate to take down these bosses. They will also require a balanced team of DPS, healers, and tanks.

Invasions

Invasions are available to players level 50 or above. Once you sign up, you wil be randomly picked before the event starts. Only 50 players can participate the territory governor choosing which ones.

Players will face 8 waves of Corrupted each with unique skills and even bosses. The goal is to prevent the Corrupted from breaching the gates and destroying the fort claim.

Settlements

Settlements are unique to New World and one of the best parts of the game. Players can organize and create organizations known as companies (other games call them Guilds/Clans).

Once these settlements gain enough size and power they can become full-blown player controlled cities. In cities, you gain access to crafting stations, fortifications, and a unique tax system.

Settlements allow for player housing and farms, in exchange for taxes and support if a rival settlement attacks (sounds like real life).

Settlements can be freely attacked by other companies or by NPC invasions. If a settlement loses a battle against the Corrupted, it may be downgraded.

If you’re looking to take control of a rival settlement, you’re going to have to take down the territory fort of that settlement.

Factions

There are three main factions in New World that players can join. These factions control the dynamics of open-world PvP and territory control in the game.

Once you’re level 10, you can complete a quest and join any faction you’d like. Once you choose a faction, you’re locked in for 120 days.

The three factions are:

  • Marauders
  • Syndicate
  • Covenant

Each faction has its own theme and offer missions/rewards.

Players can embark on faction quests to increase the factions influence in the territory. Players have the choice between PvE quests and PvP ones.

In order to keep control of the the territory, factions have to keep high influence and defeat enemy sieges.

Control of an area doesn’t go unrewarded. Factions gain bonuses, like resource carts, that generate a small amount of materials for the faction.

Companies

Companies are player-created organizations that follow a hierarchical structure and allow for players to have ranks, Consuls, and even a Governor.

World Map

The map of Aeternum is massive and can hold over 1,000 players simultaneously within its borders. The map is flushed out with different biomes, regions, resources, and plenty of things to be discovered.

For players not looking to always travel by foot within the map, there are Fast Travel Shrines located across the world.

new world map

Crafting

Crafting is a huge part of New world has has went through many changes as the game has developed. Reaching higher levels in trade skills allow players to track higher level resources and consequently craft higher level gear.

Perks on crafted items are random but can be influenced using resources within the skill. Even legendary items can be forged through crafting but requires super rare materials.

Gathering Skills:

  • Mining
  • Skinning
  • Logging
  • Harvesting

Refining Skills

  • Stonecutting
  • Leatherworking
  • Weaving
  • Smelting
  • Woodworking

As you can see, Crafting in New World is very in-depth and has a lot of things to learn. Crafting has a very prominent role in the game and doesn’t feel like just a tacked on thing.

Release Date

New World is set to launch on August 31st 2021. The game will be available on Steam. After many delays and postponements, New World is finally getting ready to release!

Want in on the actin? You can join in on the closed beta by pre-purchasing the game.

We hope you enjoyed our New World guide. Let us know if you want anything added in the comments below!

By Derek

Derek, a 28-year-old residing in Chicago, IL, is an avid video game enthusiast who has been immersed in the gaming world since his childhood. From the moment he laid hands on his first console, Derek's passion for video games ignited and has continued to burn brightly throughout his life.

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