Greetings, Adventurers!
New World's Arenas Update downtime will begin for all regions at 5AM PT (12PM UTC) on May 26. Expected downtime is 2 hours. Players can start their personal PvP quest for rewards as part of the May update. Check out our full breakdown of the May release notes for more information on the new Arenas mode, Expedition Mutators, Varangian Knights quest chain, PvP Rewards Track, and a whole host of other updates. Here’s a brief overview for you to learn more about some of the key additions.
3v3 Player vs Player Arenas
Step into the Arena to test your skills against other combatants! 3v3 Arenas are a new small-scale PvP game mode where teams of 3 can face off for fame, glory, and riches. You might even win a few unique housing items.
Each Arena match is a “Best-of-5” contest. Fight to be the first team to win 3 rounds and secure the match for your team. Rounds are 2 minutes long, but if the battle lingers, a deadly ring of fire will push players to the center of the arena, forcing combatants to engage or die!
Players level 20 and above can queue for 3v3 Arenas by opening the Modes menu, allowing on-demand PvP gameplay from anywhere in Aeternum. If players need a brief introduction to what the Arena is, they can speak to the fight promoter Maximus Marcellus in Everfall.
New Expedition Mutators
Return to the Depths and face a brand new challenge for end-game rewards! The Depths is now part of the weekly Expedition Mutator rotation. In addition, 3 new mutation types have been added to the pool, for a total of 27 new combinations:
Overgrown - Focuses on Nature Damage and Resistance. Overgrown adds effects like Toxic, a pool which tracks down players, and Compost which turns trash into healing areas for their allies.
Barbaric - Focuses on Physical Damage. Adds Berserk, an enrage effect, and Shattering which deals Stamina Damage.
Fiendish - Curses
that focus on the nocturnal. Fiendish adds Weary, which will weaken players with Rend and make them vulnerable with Slow. It also features Blood Offering which stacks damage over time.
Varangian Knights - Episode 2
Continue the story of the the Varangian Knights and their conquest for power. Players will encounter four new Varangian enemies in this episode: the Crusher, Spearman, Hound, and Mage. Find Abigail Rose just outside a new Varangian camp at Sorcerers Delve in Everfall to start the episode 2 quest chain. Recommended for players level 25-30.
PvP enthusiasts can gain more insight into the PvP rewards track below. Players looking for specific balance updates, AI improvements, and bug fixes can instead explore every single release note, including the PvP Rewards Track, on our dedicated release page.
PvP Rewards Track
Whether you strive to standout in Wars, carry your team against the odds in Outpost Rush, or counter nearly every weapon combination in Arenas, our new PvP Rewards Track encourages players to strive for special prizes. New gear, weapons, emotes, and more will serve as motivation for players to boldly tackle all forms of PvP, including open-world centric activities like faction missions, capturing forts, and killing other flagged players.
Each PvP mode will now grant players a new type of XP and a new PvP Currency – Azoth Salt. PvP XP increases your progress on the PvP Rewards track, while Azoth Salt can be exchanged for specific rewards. Every PvP activity will earn you progress, so play your favorite! You’ll also earn a generous Azoth Salt bonus for every 10k Character XP you earn in the open world while flagged (XP earned while in sanctuaries is not included).
How exactly does the new reward system work?
When you hit certain PvP XP thresholds, set at 2000/5000/10000, a notification will inform you that you’ve unlocked checkpoints 1/2/3 respectively. At each checkpoint, three potential rewards will roll, and one can be purchased using Azoth Salt. And this is where the fun starts…
The PvP Rewards Track contains all sorts of dedicated rewards including armor, trinkets, weapons, emotes & perk items that all bind on pick up and are not available anywhere else in the game. There are also other awesome prizes like Gypsum, Umbral Shards, Potion Packs, and Currency Bundles along with some Azoth Salt vials to boost your coffers. If you choose not to purchase any prizes with Azoth Salt you will recieve a small amount of extra Azoth Salt instead. Once a reward in each checkpoint is purchased or Azoth Salt is claimed, your PvP Reward Track will rank up and the checkpoints reset to begin your next rotation.
As your rank increases, more great prizes become available! You can even earn in-game achievements and titles by hitting pre-defined PvP Rank Milestones. These milestones go from Steel (1 rotation), to Bronze (5 rotations), to Silver (20 rotations), to Gold (50 rotations), to Platinum (100 rotations), to Starmetal (200 rotations). Rest assured, if you reach the very top, you can still keep the prizes flowing by cycling through the checkpoints, even once you hit the max level of the PvP Rewards Track.
Typically, you will find the most valuable items on the third checkpoint. However, there are plenty of exceptions. For example, Umbral Shards can roll on any checkpoint, Gypsum Orbs can roll on checkpoint 2 or 3, and Currency Bundles can roll on all notches, although the biggest yields are found on the third checkpoint. Perk/Potion Packs can only roll on checkpoint 1 or 2. In addition, each checkpoint has dedicated types of equipment. For instance, Checkpoint 1 rolls Hand and Feet Armor, Checkpoint 2 rolls Leg Armor, Trinkets and Weapons, and Checkpoint 3 rolls Head and Chest Armor, Weapons, and Emotes.
Rolled prizes will be suitable to where the player is in their level progression. That means the equipment you roll will have gear scores that should be useful to you. The potions offered will be at the appropriate tier for you to use, and currency packs will increase based on your player level as well as your rank. In addition we have added a system where, when a weapon is rolled, there is roughly a 50% chance it will be a type that you actively have equipped (in either slot including shields). At Tier 5, rolls will respect your expertise level and can roll up to 600 Gear Score.
Here are the Equipment Tier rewards by player level:
T2-lvl.0-19
T3-lvl.20-39
T4-lvl.40-59
T5-lvl.60
All types of dedicated PvP Weapons and Armor can be rolled right from the start. This gear will roll its perks from custom made ‘perk buckets.’ These buckets have been curated to give more of the desirable perks and stat bonuses including the new PvP perks listed below. After 5 rotations, the Named fixed-stat variants of this equipment unlocks. This equipment has between two to five fixed perks depending on tier and have been crafted to be competitive.
Once you have completed your 20th rotation, the Prestige equipment will become available. These have a mixture of pre-defined and rolled perks. What’s more, the rarer versions of these roll at 600 Gear Score regardless of your Expertise level! You need to be level 60 to qualify, of course.
New PvP Perks
Penetrating Backstab
PvP Only: Backstabs penetrate 10% of a player’s armor.
Penetrating Headshot
PvP Only: Headshots penetrate 7% of a player’s armor.
Fractured Rend
PvP Only: When block breaking a player, inflict rend, reducing damage absorption by 12% for 4s.
Purifying Crits
PvP Only: Critical hits remove 1 buff from a player (Cooldown 10s)
Exhausted Exploitation
PvP Only: Hits against Exhausted targets inflict Slow, reducing movement speed by 15% for 4 seconds (Can not re-trigger on same target)
Alacritous Punishment
PvP Only: Deals 8% additional damage to players with Haste.
Sturdy Fortification
PvP Only: Blocking attacks add a stack of 4% fortify on self for each blocked hit (Max Stack 5)
Shirking Heals
PvP Only: After successfully dodging an attack, heal for 100 health. (Each armor piece with this perk adds a stack)
Siege Ward
PvP Only: Receive 6% less damage from siege weapons.
Mortal Empowerment
PvP Only: Player kills grant a persistent 1% damage bonus that lasts until downed, death, game mode exit. Duration refreshes on re-application. (Stacks up to 30 times, can not be cleansed).
Invigorated Punishment
PvP Only: Ability deal 3% bonus damage per buff on target. (Cap of 8)
Shirking Empower
PvP Only: After successfully dodging an attack, obtain Empower, increasing damage dealt by 4% for 10s, refreshes when new stack is applied. (Stacks 4 times)
If you find your equipment isn’t rolling your favorite PvP perk, don’t worry. Inside each type of potion pack you will find two perk-crafting items which will allow you to craft some bespoke PvP gear just the way you like it.
Go forth, Adventurer! Bring glory to your name!