MMORPGs are complex and evolving beasts. Even with over 100 hours played and a level 50+ character, I still haven’t arrived at the endgame yet. Every MMORPG is different in terms of character activities for max-level characters as they continue to try to progress past the cap. Speaking with Amazon Games’ game design manager Michael Willette, creative director David Verfaillie, and gameplay design manager David Hall, a picture of the core pillars of the endgame appears. While I’m not there just yet, I’m eager to continue plodding along through a world of blueberry farming, leather refinement, and chopping down cool-looking trees.
The first element that makes up endgame play is gear hunting. Not an uncommon endgame pursuit, because of how gear can roll in New World, finding a perfect piece with the exact modifiers you’re looking for can take some serious time. For instance, even in the mid-to-late gear game chase, I’m attempting to use my Azoth resource to hypercharge bags that I make, aiming to get the Extra Pockets modifier that lets me carry significantly more on my character, making hauling back resources easier.
Tweaking mods, even more, I aim to get other weight reduction mods on carried goods like wood or ore in addition to Extra Pockets, making a new bag a powerful upgrade that allows me to make trips hyperefficient. Right now, I’m only rolling two mods per bag. In the endgame, most items can have three different modifiers and a gem slot that further allows customization options, so finding the perfect piece for each slot will likely take a while – especially since you probably want two different sets of gear at least, one for fighting and one for harvesting. In addition, you may want to forge different sets designed to tackle various types of enemies or encounters.
The second element of the game that I’m already heavily engaged in is territory faction control. While the war on my server is already raging between the three color factions, level 60 players can engage in Outpost Rush matches so they can PvP anytime in an organized fashion without waiting for a war to take off or for open-world PvP to be happening in a specific area in earnest. You can always head outside any city to fight some scrapping, but Outpost Rush lets players engage in team-based 20 vs. 20 PvP anytime once hitting the level cap.
The third is, again, something that players engage with very early but goes possibly the latest, and that’s crafting. From becoming the best at crafting potions, keys, weapons, food, or just becoming the best fisherman on the server, that’s an option. Level 60 is just one achievement to work on, as there are many crafting and gathering skills to master. These feed into another system players might not engage with until late in the game, depending on their financial situation, and that’s housing.
Players can use housing for both function and flavor, loading them up with adorable pets, powerful trophies that augment your abilities out in the world, and oodles of decorative options. Housing also allows players additional travel options around the world and serious storage space, something that any player has certainly felt the value of as you tirelessly attempt to store your huge stacks of goods. Want to be the coolest person on the server? Enhance your house with various artifacts and styles to raise your peacock rating, making you likely to be the featured house that players see when they walk by.
Many of the other activities that players can jump into in the endgame can be experienced in some fashion on the way to the top, as well. These include dungeon experiences, portal farming (where players run around a zone and close portals with other players by fighting demonic forces), crafting, gathering, questing, and realm-vs-realm PvP.
Interested in New World? Check out my thoughts and impressions on the MMORPG right here. Have you given it a shot? What do you think?