New World Creative Director Dives Into The ‘Balance Of Power’ In New Dev Video
New World’s creative director, David Verfaille, sits down to answer player questions in Episode 36 of Amazon Games’ Forged in Aeternum video series, titled “Balance of Power.” As you can probably guess from the episode title, it’s all about changes coming to both PvE and PvP combat and weapons in Season 2 and beyond.
In the video, Verfaille acknowledges the need to buff underperforming weapons and feels that the animation budget is partially to blame for the issue and are actively working to address this. He also reports that blocking changes on the Public Test Realm (PTR) have been well-received, although the studio recognizes that damage mitigation might be too high. However, they are satisfied with the overall direction they are moving in.
He also touched on upcoming weapon adjustments, including changes to the Fire Staff and the Rapier. The former will have its pushback replaced by a stagger effect while the latter will have Grip added to the Flurry ability. The Life Staff will also see buffs to abilities such as Splash of Light, Light's Embrace, and Orb of Protection, and the bow will have the duration of Rending Headshot reduced but will see increased damage for Poison Shot, and faster casting for Rain of Arrows. The new Devourer Sandworm heartrune will also be getting additional love, as its apparently felt underwhelming to both players and the devs.
The team will also be shaking up the meta on PTR and will be shifting towards melee-focused gameplay, at least for the time being. Verfaille says that they want everything to be balanced and intends to tweak the sword and shield, as well as the greatsword, to reduce their potency.
Verfaillie concluded the video by teasing an unannounced weapon that’s set to be introduced later this year. Additionally, the team is actively prototyping ideas for another weapon coming after that and is seeking player feedback on what they would like to see. You can check out the full video below.
