Greetings, Adventurers!
Aeternum is an ever-evolving world, and as such, we continue our efforts in providing our players with an assortment of ongoing new features, content, and changes. Similar to the activities leading up to our latest major update, we are approaching the release of our next large patch and would like to once again invite you all to participate in the next cycle of our Public Test Realm!
PTR
The Public Test Realm (PTR) is a limited-availability server-set that will give players an early look at upcoming features. These preview builds are snapshots of upcoming major updates and are not final versions — you may encounter bugs, crashes, missing text, or other issues. Between our internal testing efforts and your reports, we hope to catch and resolve as many issues as possible before they reach the live servers. However, not every bug or feedback piece will can or will be actioned on before release — some changes need to be investigated further, and may come as a quick follow-up in a subsequent patch or two. Nonetheless, hundreds of changes have already been made (with more to come) and the full release notes will be shared on release day.
To help with the feedback process, all newly created characters on these worlds will have the opportunity to instantly level to select level-ranges outfitted with appropriate gear and items.
PTR servers will officially open tomorrow, December 3, at 10 AM PT (6 PM UTC). Servers are limited — at the start, there will be one world available in US East and one world available in Central Europe.
When the test period is complete and the main New World game is updated with the previewed content, all worlds will shut down and be wiped clean. You will still see the New World PTR application in your Steam library, but there will not be active servers until the next time we announce a test.
If you encounter a bug, exploit, or have suggestions to improve a feature or piece of content, we’d love to hear your feedback on our PTR sub-forum (you can also utilize our in-game feedback tool). We will do our best to address as much of your feedback as possible before the content update makes its way to our live servers. Your participation will help us to deliver awesome content and updates in the future!
During this iteration of the PTR, we look forward to hearing your playtest feedback regarding the following changes:
New Limited Time Content
Winter Convergence Festival
The holiday of the Winter Convergence has arrived in Aeternum! Marked by the appearance of increased snowfall and Northern Lights in the sky (ala Aurora Borealis) this is a time of duality and dichotomy as the Yeti, the Winter Wanderer, comes to the land. While in the settlements gifts are exchanged to mark the passing of the year, outside the safety of the walls there rages a wintry war between the positive forces of Winter (slumber, perseverance) championed by the Winter Wanderer's positive side and the negative forces of Winter (death, stagnation) are championed by the Winter Wanderer negative side. The player takes on the cause of the Winter Wanderer to collect Winter Tokens from repeatable events across the island, able to turn them in to a Holiday Shop containing rare and cosmetic items. The Winter Wanderer's positive aspect grows in power with each Token collected and turned in.
Icy winds and the Winter Wanderer bring with them new armors, weapons, furnishings, skins, consumables, and a delightful “present gifting” emote; all themed off the wonderful Aeternum holiday of Winter Convergence!
Winter Villages
The Winter Wanderer has set up four villages to facilitate the joy and cheer of Winter Convergence! Visit these villages in Everfall, Monarch’s Bluffs, Weaver’s Fen, and Brightwood to meet the Winter Wanderer and carry out his holiday quests!
Winter Convergence Activities
The Convergence Spirit -
Celebrate the spirit of the season by giving a helping hand in decorating your favorite Settlement.
The Convergence Spirit is a special Town Project that allows players to complete special Town Project Quests to upgrade each Settlements Tree of Light for improved daily rewards!
Lost Present Recovery –
Those dastardly Frigid Folk are spreading their mischief and stealing present across Aeternum.
Located throughout the world are Lost Presents to be recovered and turned in for Winter Tokens at the Winter Villages Holiday Huts.
Gleamite Collecting –
Bright, glittering, gleaming Gleamite meteors of a multitude of color fall from the nights sky during this time of the year; as destructive as they are beautiful.
Gleamite Showers are a new random, dynamic event that occurs at night throughout Aeternum. Keep your eyes and ears open as you search for locations where the showers are most prevalent. Exchange the harvested crystals for Winter tokens at the Winter Village Holiday Huts. Happy hunting!
Ice Caves
Ice Caves are appearing all over Aeternum due to the Winter Warrior's desire for a Forever Winter. They are snowy and icy caves that the yeti uses to make snow fall. The rest of Aeternum will look like these Ice Caves if the onslaught of the Warrior is not stopped. These caves will remain behind after the event as scars on the land, sources of wintry magic that refuse to melt even if the Warrior is defeated.
New Content
New Quests
In addition to the new quest series offered by the Winter Wanderer for the Convergence Festival, there are also several new “side story” territory quests offered in Restless Shore and Mourningdale. This update also introduces a new quest series associated with Housing. After you’ve completed the Main Story Quest “Encroaching Corruption,” seek out Architect Giacomo Altoviti near your starting settlement to begin the quest series. Further quests with Giacomo Altoviti will be unlocked as you level up and progress your Territory Standing.
New Journal Categories
New quest categories have been added to the Journal for “Epic Weapons and Armor” quests and for “Skill Progression” quests. This update is accompanied by new map pins for all quest types.
New Features
Expertise & Gypsum System
Based on feedback on the High Water Mark system and our desire to have a compelling and diverse end game, we’ve made some major updates to the end game. We’ve added a new resource called Gypsum that can be acquired each day by doing a variety of activities (open world named bosses, expedition bosses, outpost rush, arenas, corrupted breaches, etc.). Each activity rewards a different type of Gypsum that can be crafted into a Gypsum Orb. These Orbs can then be crafted into Gypsum Casts of any weapon, armor or trinket type. Opening a Gypsum Cast will guarantee an expertise bump and gear of that type.
We’ve also renamed High Water Mark to Expertise and now display the current Expertise level of each slot on your avatar in the inventory, so players can easily track their progress. We also show a level up banner anytime your Expertise level increases.
Lastly we’ve added 2 new end game POIs were players can challenge themselves with difficult content and try to progress their Expertise with level 66 enemies and elite chests. Both Malevolence in Edengrove and the Imperial Palace/North Dynasty Shrine have been up-leveled to 66.
Trade Skill Aptitude
We want to continue rewarding the efforts you make to craft items for yourself, your friends, or to make a buck on the Trading Post, so we have introduced Trade Skill Aptitude!
Upon reaching level 200 in a Trade Skill, the Leveling Circle will update to show 3 markers equidistant from each other on the circle.
Earning Trade Skill XP will begin progressing you again, and when you reach one of these markers, you will be awarded with a container of useful items that are (mostly) trade skill relevant, such as Craft Mods, special ingredients, and even schematics and recipes!
Each subsequent marker awards a more spectacular container with more rewards than the one before.
Gaining enough XP to go all the way around the circle will increment the Aptitude Counter by 1. This counter will keep counting so you can keep track of how many times you’ve wrapped your progression around the top level.
We have also introduced a new type of reward with this system: Equipment Patterns.
Equipment Patterns are Crafting Artifacts that enable you to craft a guaranteed Gear Score 600 item that has a specific appearance.
Patterns require a significant amount of powerful crafting resources to create, but guarantee a GS 600 item.
Patterns still roll perks and players have the normal amount of control over their outcome with Craft Mods and Azoth.
Equipment Patterns have a small chance to drop from Arcana, Weaponsmithing, Armoring, and Engineering Aptitude Reward Caches.
PvP Balance Changes
Due to an issue in our initial PvP damage formula that caused lower gear to be more beneficial in damage mitigation, we have updated our formula. We look forward to hearing your feedback on this update.
PvP damage formula update
We adjusted the way armor mitigation is calculated to use enemies gear score value instead of your average gear score.
To adjust for the difference in armor mitigation we increased the damage low level players do to higher level players and reduced the damage the higher level players do to lower level players.
Crit damage application
Critical damage bonuses from masteries or perks are now applied additively instead of multiplicatively. On average, this will reduce the extra damage they provide by a small percentage.
Buffer Windows: A general consistency pass has been done across all weapons to adjust the buffering windows for dodges, abilities and basic attacks. The updated buffer windows starts when the first frame of the attack that would deal damage or on the first casting frame in the case of abilities that do not deal damage.
PTR FAQ
HOW DO I ACCESS THE NEW PTR?
Everyone with a copy of New World will be automatically granted access to the secondary PTR app. The PTR is not compatible with the live game, so you will need to download a separate client (and have the hard drive space required to support it). From there, we will have special worlds available within supported regions. Not all regions will initially be supported. Access is on a first come, first served basis. There may be queues.
CAN I PLAY WITH OR TRANSFER MY LIVE CHARACTERS TO THE PTR?
Unfortunately, no. These are separate ecosystems, so at this time it is not possible. However, to make testing easier, we will occasionally provide our play-testers with special accommodations such as instant levels, special gear, etc.
CAN I PROVIDE DESIGN FEEDBACK REGARDING WHAT’S INCLUDED ON THE PTR?
Preview game builds on the PTR are finished with their core development and are in their final phase of testing and bug fixing. Our main focus at this phase is improving quality, although we will appreciate any feedback you have to share.
I HAVE A PROBLEM; HOW CAN I CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT?
Our policies and Code of Conduct cover the PTR, and in-game moderation will continue to be supported. Unfortunately, due to the temporary and potentially unstable nature of the PTR, general Customer Service assistance through both Live Chat and through the Support Website will not be available.
I DON’T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PTR, CAN I REMOVE THE APP FROM MY LIBRARY?
Don’t worry, no offense taken. Players can manage visibility of the New World Public Test Realm Steam Library entry. Opening up the game options (right-click > Manage) offers the “Hide Game” function.
Thanks for your support and participation! We'll see you in Aeternum.