On July 9, I had the opportunity to join journalists from around the world for an exclusive preview of New World, the new MMORPG from Amazon Games Studios. The goal was to show us the high-level content, with max-level characters geared up and ready for the most competitive battles. The problem is that, unfortunately, communication has not really been there, not to mention the many bugs that have spiced up our sessions. Already, the impossibility of releasing to resume his body after a death, but also, twice concerning me, a black screen when returning to the menu, with the fans at full blast. This time those crashes ended with no damage to my RTX 3090 but the third crash, which happened on release day, was fatal to my poor graphics card (and I'm far from the only one with it). judging by the numerous discussions whether on reddit or the official forums, followed by an official denial on Twitter). Despite all these setbacks, I will still try to share my feelings with you while remaining as neutral as possible. But it is difficult, and you will excuse me!
Even if he only has a few active skills, taming an unknown character in an MMORPG is complex, it's not for nothing that there are usually dozens of levels to prepare for. Our session therefore began with a long silent moment dedicated to the discovery of our level 60 character, with no other message from the Amazon developers than the need to register at the panel next to which we all just appeared. . The task is not easy, our characters have no skill points or weapon points distributed and that's a lot to read. I equip heavy armor, shield my strength and stamina. And I put all my points in a two-handed weapon, determined to go on a beast DPS to simplify my task, because I do not want to engage in the slippery track of the tank or the healer. I was well inspired, because we also discover almost at the end of the session that you have to put gems in certain slots to ensure additional effects (including the very useful generation of threat!).
The first leg of our journey takes us through a Breaking Wave, where players are split into two groups of 20. The main objective calls for capturing outposts to be the first team to reach 1 points. I fled the first fights to explore the surroundings and discover the wild nature. In the ruins, I meet some hostile NPCs, who bring me a currency that I would never have the opportunity to spend before returning to one of the main forts. On the way, I see one of my companions who is logging, but I leave him to his noble task (the wood will later be used to reinforce the door of a fort) because we are attacked by two or three opponents. I help to defend with some colleagues but, unfortunately, we are overwhelmed, and we succumb. As I find myself from there stuck under this status of corpse, I did not see much else. But, like the first time I played, what stands out to me the most is the amount of lives each character has. Far from being a game where it is possible to "one shot" your opponent, the confrontations last a long time, and are very tight (and if I had known that I could not come back to life, I would have bravely fled).
In a second step, we go to do a PvE dungeon, the Instrument of Lazarus in a group of five players. The holy trinity (a tank, a healer and three damage) is more or less respected even if nobody really knows what he is doing. I don't know if the difficulty is on the heroic or even mythical level of some other MMORPGs, but we die again very quickly in excruciating pain. The same bug affects us: impossible to free and recover his body in the dungeon. By a logic that I do not understand, the game places us randomly in the world, sometimes several kilometers from the entrance to the instance. The only solution is to delete the character to recreate one (and distribute the points again, put the equipment back, place the gems...). We leave, valiant, and we die almost as quickly, totally overwhelmed... Pressed by my agenda (I had only learned a few days before that the session was going to last three hours, and not the two I had before an important meeting ), I am obliged at this time to leave the session, and I was unable to complete the dungeon, nor then participate in the questions/answers, but you can find on jeuxonline a summary of the Q&A which followed, as well as here a video of said dungeon.
It is difficult for me at the moment to conclude on New World. As a fan of the genre, I was looking forward to this MMORPG which presents everything I appreciate in a multiplayer game: sublime environments, a story, group challenges. But the technical problems that I encountered personally stopped my momentum even if I hope that once my PC is again equipped with a graphics card worthy of the name, I will be able to join the supernatural island of Eternum. In the meantime, you can join the beta by pre-ordering on Steam:
