What is Amazon thinking with New World Aeternum!?

New World Aeternum is the extremely unpopular change which focuses on bringing in new console players over adding more content for existing players
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#newworld #aeternum #newworldaeternum

[@cranknnutz]

I have almost 4k hours in New World, but haven't played since last December. I knew as soon as they scrapped the 2024 road map all of their efforts were going towards console release. I had no desire to be a free tester for all their prep work to release on console so I quit. The state of the game this year has been an absolute joke. They dumped v1 of their reworked combat called slayer script onto the players a couple months ago and it's been a complete disaster. I have very little confidence that AGS is capable of supporting a cross platform game when they can barely handle just PC. New World may have some initial success on console, but it won't last for long once those new players get a taste of the never ending bugs and lack of content.

[@Tenkiei]

Yep that's my read as well. PR aside New World has a lot of problems and AGS has struggled to support the game for a long time now. All a rush of new players means is a rush of new problems, bug reports, server issues etc.

[@Savvvo]

4k hours = worth the money and worth playing for sure

[@cranknnutz]

@@Savvvo you're right it is worth playing, which is why I said it'd have initial success on console. Slowly but surely 99% of those new players will leave though. I hope I'm wrong, but we already have almost 3 years of evidence from AGS they can't retain most players.

[@milosm6140]

@@Savvvo Lies+Making players test subjects+No bug fixes=Not recommendable But you're a good shill.

[@Label07]

3k hours here... You said one thing that was 100% correct. These developers are bafflingly stupid.

[@weirdodude1173]

It is marketing gone wild, mixed in with them putting the current PC game into maintenance mode back at the start of the year without telling the players. Thumbs up for the video.

[@Tenkiei]

Yeah, the "big announcement in June" then Aeterna launching in Oct is wild. I feel like this would have gone over a lot better with people if they released Aeterna to PC players now (ideally without tying things to Rise of the Angry Earth) THEN marketed the console stuff later, maybe Aug at Gamescom.

[@toastingway]

Great video. I've played since launch and AGS deserve all the bad reviews right now. They basically told us (PC Players) to wait 6 months for a massive roadmap announcement and for the PC community to tune into summer games fest. We got nothing we were hoping for and a console release (Which is great but still nothing for the endgame) so we all collectively just gave a negative review when the Devs stated that we were all beta testers for console launch. Each new update might fix one bug but they introduce 5 more in its place. The game right now is a mess and its still going to be a mess when console launches as AGS are hopeless at fixing any issues in a timely manner. It has very little gatekept endgame content and loot progression is awfully easy. Its now no longer much an MMO and hardly an ARPG. I guess AGS are just trying to reach the dads 'cutting down some trees in game' audience.

[@Tenkiei]

Absolutely! The "wait for a big announcement in June, oh the big announcement is a console release" is definitely not the right way to manage expectations. The negative reviews/review bombing is absolutely deserved atm, though I am pretty skeptical of it mattering. Because this feels like a push from the top to increase revenue (hence tying the new content to the DLC to force purchases from existing players, vs the base game to bring old players back). Plus like you say there isn't much to retain the audience, lots of grind but not much meaningful content especially for a game that's 3 years old.

[@TanjonaRafidison]

I think it’s more msrkekdting approach why waiting so long for so little. There is actual content coming for pc player but poorly highlighted such as PvP ffa, new raid, new character creation, increase gear score and up level area

[@halfik83]

When they originaly decided to work on console version (after BS i think) they had resources to do both: work on console version and new pc content. But at some point sth went wrong. For some reason they had no more resources to do both. One of two things happen: their budget was cut down or they underestimated amount of resources they do need to deliver console version. One or another way there was no resouces to keep updating pc version and there was no way for them to sell that info to pc players.

[@Tenkiei]

Honestly it was probably both budget cuts (likely due to declining sales) and underestimating the cost/time to revamp a game entirely. I suspect the "big news in June" was their original target date which has now been pushed back to Oct. Which is definitely a hard sell coming from Amazon as people can say "but the company has unlimited money." Which is true for Amazon as a whole, but not AGS. That said, I still think they've handled it the wrong way here, because releasing Aeternum as a base game update on PC, letting PC players play with it and then announcing the console release would have gone over much better.

[@igrilledhnc]

Don't buy New World if you want an MMO to play forever. Buy New World if enjoy scenic worlds with good gathering (honestly my favorite gathering system in any game, especially on a new server were you can hear the rocks being mined and the trees being chopped all around you). There are a ton of issues with the game but at 40$ for the base game and 30$ for the expansion I never thought my money was "wasted". There's no subscription to pay for and the season pass is honestly underwhelming so its not something you feel like you need to buy. I understand the hate towards AGS and while I won't defend them I will say this. My first 100 hours in New World were some of the best times I've had in a new game (not just MMOs) ever.

[@bigdamij]

Good on you for holding your opinion for more data.

[@Tenkiei]

I'm very glad I did, because now I can give a more informed opinion on both New World Aeternum and Wayfinder Echoes.

[@Schattenhoernchen]

I played around 100 hours and had fun as a solo player. Suddenly I got random ping spikes and it became unplayable. Nothing from AGS side to fix this. The PR always was a desaster - somehow typically for a big company. They still need a lot to learn and that means it is not enough to constantly say how excited they are and how awesome the new content is (that's for the players to judge). I would really like to give the game another chance in October. But I am not sure.

[@Tenkiei]

I'm not going to fault a dev too much for being excited about sharing something they made, but I agree that overhyping content as "awesome" is generally a bad idea. Better to say "we're excited to share what we've been working on and we hope you like it" than "this is awesome you'll love it".

[@Der_Wolvenfang]

Good times.

[@Savvvo]

truth. ty for the comment!

[@Der_Wolvenfang]

@@Savvvo Got to support the PC KZbinrs NW. I want vengeance after all.

[@chedder9999]

PC beta testers no longer needed.

[@mirrannda]

I have 7k hours in New World. My focus is PVE and as you can probably guess for the most part I loved to play this game. My main focus is running mutated dungeons with my friends for leader board scores. However, as you can imagine this is no longer as fun as it used to be. The game is full of bugs, for every bug they try to fix, it creates twice as many new ones, most of which never get addressed. It's almost impossible to make money in the game as they have screwed the economy, making it incredibly hard to make money from crafting etc. Desyncs are a common problem, (I believe this is also a problem in PVP) weapon swaps often don't work, there are many broken game mechanics and now it's almost impossible to get a group of 5 together to run the m3 dungeons. End game content is lacking with only a few daily quests that can be completed and I believe the War and PvP scene is repetitive and boring also with only one OPR map available since launch. People are angry, and rightly so, that the pc players have been ignored, used and cast aside. We feel like we have been used as BETA testers by AGS to help them iron out the problems before they hit the console players. Going forward I can't imagine the release in October will be smooth. As @cranknnutz said below, they can't even get the PC version running smoothly so they have no chance of making cross servers work. I will continue to play with my friends at weekends until it's no longer possible to do so. I might even check it out in October. But I think the game will die pretty soon after the console players grow tired of the game.

[@Tenkiei]

I remember a lot of the bugs, I played quite a bit at launch and I used to joke with my friends "it's been 0 days since trade was disabled due to a dupe" or when I would die in PVP to extreme desync... I'd miss my /outofsync macro from the good old early days of Path of Exile.

[@aortenzio]

as of 7:40am 06/26/2024 - less than 2K players on lol. 20 of them are definitly bots on sukeh cause it never drops below 19/20.

[@topwing211]

It has and had bugs but overall I've had plenty of fun. 2000 hours in

[@Savvvo]

Amen.

[@similitudinous]

Siege warfare, where it appears, is only about 2% as viable as it was at launch; this drop off was evident about 6 months post launch as power creep in the gear outpaced the power of the siege weapons, which have only received one tepid rebalance many months later, which wasn't even enough to change how much siege was/wasn't used.

[@Tenkiei]

That's unfortunate. I did a fair bit of siege warfare at launch, it was hard to get into the fights back then due to lag and popularity. But I remember after trade got shut down the struggle on my server was finding people, especially for the PVE sieges.

[@similitudinous]

@@Tenkiei In the war scene, horns are used almost exclusively; everything else is viewed as memeing. Weird, too, because the stagger on the defensive cannons, imo, has enough utility from the CC to dedicate 1-2 people who can land shots. A lot of the war leads seems to have less imagination, and almost everyone is just slaves to the meta. The "anti-siege" perk was deprecated, and fort gates are destroyed with by just having ground troops focus them down, and they tend to go in mere seconds. In the PvE Invasion vs. 50 scene, repeaters mostly, and to a lesser extent horns, see regular use, though the repeaters are effectively backup weapons for lower level players to use (when they don't get kicked); a player geared with cheap GS 690 gear from the tradepost can out-dps a repeater easily.

[@Tenkiei]

man, back in my day the big war debate was "greataxe, warhammer, or just lag everyone out with healing staff" :P

[@ur_shulgi9133]

AGS has bad leadership... sadly we can only blame them so much for this as this was Amazon PR / Marketing leaders who forced AGS in a direction. The purchase of the LotR IP license hasn't had much in the way of Return on Investment (ROI) and are pushing AGS to move faster with that game's release. This means that AGS has to use New World as the LotR MMO's PTR environment more and more. This entire 2024 year (and at least half of 2025) is that focus. Scott & his other 'leaders' are just proving that they cannot be transparent and are just fumbling through things. Sadly how badly this was handled is now getting dangerously close to the Crowfall devs & 'leaders'.

[@Tenkiei]

I didn't really follow Crowfall but I remember there being a good bit of hype for that game then hearing that the release was mismanaged and the game never went anywhere.

[@ur_shulgi9133]

@@Tenkiei Yeah, it was a MMO that was initially primarily focused on PVP and the devs were 'all about partnering with the community'. They ended up not listening to a single thing except for their echo chamber 'creators'. Game closed in less than 2 years due to complete failure of their 'leaders'. The head guy is almost exactly like Scott...

[@Tenkiei]

That's very unfortunate.

[@n3rgal166]

Tbh i would have played this game way more if it released as a solo/coop experience,i got 300h in and quit because of desync and frame drops that plagued the game since day one but now its way too late for the game to ditch the MMO title after 3 years way too late

[@Tenkiei]

The strangest part is they're ditching the "MMO" title in name alone, in terms of function the game is still a MMO.

[@jhanulkoredkvicka1975]

I'm definitely not AGS shill or something like that. They fucked up sooo many things, and one of it is this another dissapointed announcement. But you saying tying end game content with DLC is just out of touch imo. It's regular thing for every MMO you play. New DLC = New endgame = new paywall.

[@Tenkiei]

Yeah sorry I'm out of touch, I thought "free update" means "you don't have to buy anything" without any conditions attached. The problem here is NOT the concept of a company selling their new content as a DLC. The problem is the company marketing their content as a free update, and then tying it to an old and fairly unpopular DLC in a desperate attempt to get sales. Think about it this way; why isn't Aternum being sold as a stand alone DLC, the way any other MMO would do it?

[@Denisovan09]

What is new world?

[@impulserr]

I don't know how this can be suprise for anyone. this game is shitshow since day 1 in regards of content. I mean we have like arenas, outdated worm raid and thats it, nothing new since 2021. They are going to add soul trials and instantly limit it 3 per day, I mean, they really have like 2 brain cells together in amazon.

[@Tenkiei]

The content cadence has definitely been bogged down by fixing bugs. It kinda reminds me of Wolcen sadly.

[@FairPlay012]

in 3 years of being live NW didn't find it's identity. Now they are just shifting to consoles to grab some more cash before it's a ghost town once again. If it wasn't amazons own title it would have been shut down already. And that's sad. So much promise, so much untapped potential.

[@Tenkiei]

Yeah it's definitely a mess. To me this very much says; poor leadership/mismanagement from the top. I think Amazon's big play was "make a hit MMO, sell the Lumberyard engine, make bank" but that imploded quickly after launch when Amazon realized that Lumberyard is a nightmare to work in. So since then they've been trying to salvage the project and kinda aimlessly updating stuff in hopes that something works.

[@FairPlay012]

@@Tenkiei absolutely agree. And I am so afraid for the new LOTR title. I love LOTR and for now I feel it's in the worst hands possible.

[@Tenkiei]

I don't have high expectations for that one tbh. I didn't play LOTRO but from everything I heard they did proper justice to the world & setting. I expect AGS will make something very...pretty, and shallow.

[@kurtdha]

@@Tenkiei and in their infinite wisdom, they decided to use the SAME engine in their future upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO. There's no hope for AGS.

[@timit2thelimit]

AGS is incompetent and has straight up lied to the community multiple times.

[@nordee]

TLDR; 💀 DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! 💀 This goes out to all possible new console players, do NOT buy this game. The game studio behind it (Amazon Game Studios - AGS) has been lying to us, the PC players for months and months now. They stopped developing the game, they are not fixing bugs, they just want you console players to invest your money in this trainwreck of a "game". AGS tries to bait you into a rebranded game "New World" -> "Aeternum" because the reviews for New World and so Aeternum were devastating. Read the Steam reviews, read the press reviews and come to your own conclusion if you dont trust us. Us PC players who have been with New World for so many months and years, we stuck to this "game company" for so long and yet they kept lying to us. This is why everyone is furious. AGS is nothing but a lying, money hungry company. They delivered nothing, no roadmap, no content, nothing, for 9 months! 💀 DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! 💀 I've uninstalled this game 3 weeks ago. After 2400 hours. I just couldnt take any more lies by this company.

[@Blackhawk_Snape]

BUY THE GAME IT'S GREAT DON'T LISTEN TO COMPLAINER.

[@IronBrutzler]

Man the release of New World was magical but the content and pvp was just so bad. I wish they would go the Wayfinder way and make New World Offline coop playable.

[@Tenkiei]

Honestly, after playing a bit of Wayfinder Echoes, I agree. New world has solid mechanics and some damn good boss fights. But it's bogged down by the MMO side a lot. I'd be a lot happier about a New World Aeternum which is a stand alone ARPG (completely disconnected from the MMO).

[@matthewc171]

I have 900 hours in new world before the rise of the angry earth . That expansion was not worth it imho and I did not buy it , that is when I stopped playing . Did I get my moneys worth buying the base game , yes . Not worth coming back untill it goes free to play . Cause its not worth a single cent more from me. Thanks for the video.

[@Tenkiei]

I don't know that would bring me back to the game personally. But tying most of the content to an expansion I do not own is definitely not it.

[@scarbunker]

No content? I have 900 hours in the game and still haven’t finished everything the game has to offer. You don’t pay a subscription for the game. Also we got free DLC with Brimstone Sands before Rise of the Angry Earth which was a paid DLC. This “PR Disaster” has been blown out of proportion. I was not surprised one bit by the announcement. I hope people that had stopped playing give it a try again and I look forward to the console players.

[@wwjj64]

Amazon needs to get out of the gaming business. They obviously have no clue.