New World PTR Updated With Expedition Mutators And The New Umbral Shards Upgrade Resource
Big changes are coming to New World in this month’s update but before they roll out on the live game, Amazon Game Studios is giving players a chance to test them out on the PTR. New features and content up for testing include a new endgame feature called Expedition Mutators and a new resource called Umbral Shards.
Expedition Mutators adds more variety to Expeditions by upgrading enemies to change how the encounter plays out and force players to re-think their strategies and loadouts before heading out. New “bespoke” gear and resources await players who rise up to the challenge.
“This system is intended to rotate through a unique combination of Expeditions and Mutations each week, with 10 difficulty levels per Expedition Mutation. Players will be challenged to climb the ladder, with the aim of eventually reaching the max difficulty,” explains Amazon. For the purposes of testing, however, the rotation will be accelerated to give testers a chance to try out a variety of mutations on different endgame Expeditions.
“Please be advised that “Recommended Gear Score'” levels for a Mutated Expedition is important, as it directly factors into enemy scaling — and by consequence, your chances of success,” warns the devs. “This combat scaling is individual per player and separate from the base difficulty increases in health and damage.”
Another new feature that players will get to try out is a new resource type called Umbral Shards. Umbral Shards can be used to upgrade Gear Score 600 items all the way up to Gear Score 625. This is essential for players who want to dive into the new mutated Expeditions or gain an advantage in PvP. To use Umbral Shards, the item must have a minimum Gear Score of 600 and the player’s Expertise for the said item must also be at least 600.
“We have also increased the Expertise cap to 625,” said Amazon. “There is an earnable soft cap at 600, which you can reach in the same ways as before — such as Gypsum Casts and defeating powerful enemies. With this update, crafting a Gear Score 600 item will also raise your Expertise if you are not already at 600 for that item.”
Aside from new features, PTR players can also expect changes to existing content, including increased Brute Summoning Stone costs for Outpost Rush and a reduction in fast travel costs. The full PTR release notes can be found on the New World official site if you want to get into the details.
