> [Aurora Project] What New World could become <
Greetings to all.
The so-called “Aurora Project” is a set of ideas divided into several Post, where they will be treated individually and precisely. It is very important to understand that these suggestions are my way of understanding and improving New World, and that of course any other opinion is totally valid as well. I ask for the maximum possible respect in these Posts that I am going to discuss, and if anyone wants to comment, I would ask you, please, that they read the entire Project, all Post with the Tag “[Aurora Project]” and written by me: “Lobo_Necrodes”, to understand its objective.
More Posts will be added over time and with new ideas. I accept contributions from other users who send them to me by Private Message to continue creating a “New World”.
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** This Post could really be infinite … first because the topic to be discussed is very broad, and second because I really LOVE to talk about this and create this content, so I would never shut up XD That’s why I’m going to try to focus on the 4 or 5 more important things nothing more. **
When I play New World the same thought always invades me:
Is New World really an MMORPG, or is it a base that is on its way to becoming one?
We all have in our minds the concept of “MMORPG” well established, and although it may have different nuances for each of us, roughly it is always the same.
We all know that the “MMO” part refers to a “Massively Multiplayer Online” game with a huge World for literally millions of players in some cases, and all the interactions between those players: PvP, PvE, Economy, Trade , a long etc and of course all the direct interactions between players, from trading items to simply chatting.
On the other hand we have the “RPG” part that is more related to game mechanics that make it a “Role Playing Game”. This implies having a series of statistics that govern our entire Character level, our equipment, each item in the game, enemies, skills, etc. And of course, within the RPG genre, everything related to exploration, the depth of Lore is also very important, and above all and above all else, making ourselves feel within a living world where we can live adventures, alone or with friends.
Well; the point is that New World does all of this but only half. I am not saying that New World is a bad game or that it is not an MMORPG, but I do say that it has timidly put its paw into the MMORPG genre, that it is a very new game and that it still has a long way to go.
If we analyze a little the basic game mechanics of New World, those mechanics on which the entire game revolves and its base, we can see that they have made a mixture of several games; about. On the one hand they have taken some Farming / Crafting mechanics similar to games like “Rust” / “Ark” / etc, they have added some battles of territories with many players in the style of “Conqueror’s Blade”, and also a bit of the "For Honor "in terms of the philosophy of direct combat between players. And it has not been bad, but I think it still lacks important things that the MMOPG genre has always had and that New Wolrd has not yet implemented.
Within the MMORPG genre there are many settings, from completely Asian such as “Blade & souls” or the recent “Sword Of Legends”, to futuristic such as the famous “Star Wars: The Old Republic” or, unfortunately canceled, "Wildstar ". But without a doubt, the setting best received by everyone within this genre has always been Medieval Fantasy and / or Magical, and games like “World Of Warcraft” or “Guild Wars 2” are clear examples of this.
The setting is very important, since the whole story and all the actions that we can carry out will take place in it, and it will make a player feel comfortable every second of the game, or not …
New World has opted for a Fantasy setting, but based on a quite specific time, which is the time of the Spanish conquerors in the seventeenth century (I’m Spanish, and to be honest I don’t like this setting at all, or the aesthetics, or the weapons, or the armor, or anything really XD; but it is personal matter of taste). Regardless of whether we like this setting more or less, I do believe that New World should bet more strongly on the Fantasy / Magical element and enhance it, because when we enter a game of this style, we all want to see a Fantasy World that we cannot see in almost no other genre.
Ending the theme of the setting and moving on to another point, there are all those recognizable elements of the MMORPG genre that we all love. There are many, no doubt, but the most recognizable are always two fundamental: PvE and PvP.
PvE
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Dungeons:
We all love Dungeons and Raids. Those places to go with a group of players (Dungeon) and face challenges, puzzles, powerful enemies with interesting mechanics, etc. Something that is really a challenge and that needs players who are giving the best of themselves. To depend on each other, to help each other, to understand each other, and everything that makes those moments wonderful. Unfortunately New World has none of this. It hardly has a few “Dungeons” where everything is based on gathering enemies and spamming buttons; In addition, all of them are practically the same, none of them has a single moderately complicated puzzle, and the most disappointing of all is that none of them have enemies with real mechanics that take a while. Even the final bosses are dumb enemies that you just have to spam buttons. -
Raids:
On the other hand would be the Raids, which fulfill a similar function to that of the Dungeons, but on a much larger epic scale. There are usually groups of players much larger than a Party, usually between 20-40 players. The puzzles are also much more difficult and require more help from the players, and enemies and bosses pose an even greater challenge, with many more mechanics, more AI, and require players to give their 110%. They are tremendously epic and special moments, and even if they die 100 times, when you finally defeat the enemy and know that you and your Clan are one of the few who have succeeded, a feeling of enormous fecility invades you. I suppose that those who do not enjoy PvE could never understand it, but those of us who love PvE as the main content of an MMORPG, you will know perfectly what I am talking about.
Unfortunately New World doesn’t have any of this either … and it’s a shame, because I’ve already done surveys many times in Forums for other games, and even on Discord, and the PvE population is always higher than PvP; not by much, it is true, but it is always usually 40% of the population PvE versus 25% PvP. And another 35% who play both contents without worrying too much about them.
These are the two pillars within the PvE of an MMORPG, and I think that any MMORPG that wants to consider itself within this genre, has to have both pillars covered.
Now let’s talk about PvP.
PvP
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Arena:
The Arenas are known for making confrontations of players in modalities: 1vs1, 2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4 and 5vs5 (in some cases even more).
It is important that these fights have a Ranking for the participants, because it does not stop running a “competitive” mode where the players measure themselves against each other. A good Arena system is accompanied by prizes and rewards for “seasons”, and at the end of the seasons, the Rankings are reset and you can start over (it is good to be able to show in your profile in the highest Ranking you ever reached).
It would be wonderful if New World had something similar, sadly it doesn’t. -
Battlegrounds:
Just like Raids are a kind of Dungeon but more epic, Battlegrounds are a kind of Arena but more epic. Usually groups of 20-100 players are formed to compete in minigames: Rescue the flag, Conquer the area, Gather resources before your enemy, are just some examples. This does not usually have any Ranking and it is not done competitively either, it is more of a hobby, but always with the epicity of being able to face a large number of enemies in an open field.
Unfortunately New World does not have anything similar either … the closest thing is Node War, but that is not a “minigame”, it is a Node War XD
These are the two basic pillars of PvP in an MMORPG.
But to this there is still more to be added to be a complete MMORPG.
Regarding the “Node Wars” (or “Castle Conquests”), it is also a very important mechanic for New World, so I comment on some changes in this Post:
[Aurora Project] Changes in “Node Wars”
Exploration
This is a very important topic and one that I already commented on a little in:
[Aurora Project] Changes in Movement Speed, Swim, Dive and Exploration
As I said at the beginning, “exploration” is one of the most important and iconic sections within the RPG genre, and one by which this genre is recognized.
In New World there are several possibilities to exploit this element. For instance:
We all love discovering a hidden cave that we think no one ever discovered. That feeling when we think that we might be the first there, or the first in a long time. Something that is not easily seen and that only true explorers will find. Well, in addition to this, imagine that this cave is quite wide and you can be there for 30-60 minutes discovering hidden corridors and difficult to access. And in addition to this, imagine that that cave has mineral veins that are difficult to find in the Open World, and that there are several veins scattered around the cave just for you.
This place should have a high respawn so as not to abuse it, but for that fortuitous player who finds it, they will certainly get excited.
This same principle can be applied to any “secret” or “hidden” place, where only those explorers who like to lose themselves on the map, will be able to find. And they will be rewarded with “rare” items that are hard to come by in the Open World.
Perhaps a narrow corridor that leads to a hidden swamp full of strange plants with a high drop of “rare” materials.
Or maybe dive into an underwater cave full of extreme coral with a “rare” drop.
Or throw your flying ax and see that there is an invisible structure through which you can ascend to a floating castle with strange enemies and a Boss with a “rare” drop of materials to make special equipment.
All this that sounds so epic, is what makes players not only think about killing themselves … but that they can enjoy the game exploring with their friends. Miencraft is a good example of this, how many players were itching and suddenly they have fallen into a kind of Dungeon full of enemies, important and rare minerals, and have played for hours touring that place? It’s a feeling that can’t be described if you don’t love exploration.
I think it is one of the most important things for an Open World game, and I think New World should bet on this type of content. There are games with a lot of hidden content, such as Dark Souls, which is still talked about years and years later because players continue to invest time in discovering all its secrets.
When you make an “easy” game, all the players get everything fast, in the end they get bored and leave. But when they make a game “difficult” and full of “secrets”, it is when players spend hours and hours, and days, and weeks, and months and years, discovering all that content, to overcome that enemy that has killed them 100 times, and that’s when the “developer” has time to release content before the “player” completes it. In this way the player always has more and more things to do, because if they make an easy game, the “player” will complete that content before the “developer” releases new content, and in the end the player will get bored and leave. , and the developer will live with constant pressure.
Swim / Dive
Swimming and diving are two of the best things one can do in an Open World. There are dozens of Open World games and without a doubt the best are the ones that offer you the most freedom.
There are MMORPGs where you can only walk / run, you can’t even jump. Some examples are very old games such as Lineage II, Silkroad, Metin2, or even the first Guild Wars, if I remember correctly. These games can be played without problems, of course, but the simple fact of not being able to jump … pufff, makes the game lose a lot in terms of “exploration” and feeling of “freedom”; Besides having a mental knock because not being able to jump is something completely illogical … Of course in these games you could not swim or dive, at least not that I remember.
Then we have a lot of games where you can jump, swim and dive, but they don’t have a climbing system. Some well-known examples from World Of warcraft, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, and just about any well-known MMORPG today.
Then we have a couple of cases (I can’t remember any more) of MMORPGS that have gone one step further and added an escalation system, these are Black Desert Online and, recently, New World. At the beginning in Black Desert you could not swim or dive, and it was something that took away a lot of freedom from the game, of course it was something very demanded by the community of players, and that finally ended up being added to the game. Currently there is a lot of exploration in the sea and also under the sea, ships, marine enemies, naval PvP combat, many islands to explore with new flora, fauna and missions, to a new continent on the other side of the ocean that will be an expansion of territory in the future, and many other things that came from being able to swim and dive.
In part I think that New World will end up adding a swimming and diving system to the game, because it is frustrating enough being a sailor and not knowing how to swim across a river … but also, all the lore of New World is focused on Aethernum, an island surrounded by water that would give a lot of play and exploration with a good swimming and diving system. Small islands could be made with more flowers, fauna and lore, which you can reach by swimming or even by boat (having a boat is something that I will deal with in the future in another Post). More large islands could be added with new territories. Or you could even add underwater content full of lore, underwater dungeons, aquatic combat, bosses on the map that must be killed with boats and that drop a specific loot. Anyway … it would give a lot of exploration, a lot of new options, and a lot of feeling of freedom, which is what a player most wants in an Open World.
Mounts / Companions / Pets
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Mounts:
I will not talk here in depth about them because I want to make a Post dedicated to them, but I do want to comment that having your own mount is also part of the exploration, the feeling of freedom, the feeling of self-sufficiency, and that it could be something important. in the game if done right. Games like Black Desert do it relatively well, because the mount is not something that is invoked out of nowhere, it is something that you must take with you, take care of, feed, etc; although unfortunately it does not go further in Black Desert …
New World could take it a step further, being able to take your mount with you by the reins (as you can do in Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, where you can go walking and take your mount by the reins). Making feeding, cleaning and caring for your mount really important. Add the option to equip armor to your mount. Of course, you can take someone with you in the same mount, because that feeling of sharing and going together is part of MMORPGs, being able to help others and enjoy company, and not encourage isolated play. Add “stables” where NPCs keep these mounts, and where to store several of them. A special market for buying and selling mounts (Black Desert has one, for example). Or even being able to lend or give a mount to someone. -
Companion:
The companions are domesticated animals that could also help you in certain actions. They could be:
Defensive:
Oriented to protect you from danger. Companions such as “turtuga”, “bear” or “deer” are just some examples.
Offensive:
Intended to help you in combat. The “wolf”, the “puma” or even the “alligator” are also some examples.
Smart:
Companions who help you with their cunning. Animals like the “crow”, the “fox” or the “raccoon”, which could bring resources for you on some occasions (things like plants, or some “rare” manufacturing material, etc).
I also want to talk about this in another Post. -
Pets:
Lastly, pets could be small individuals that chase you and simply help you collect the loot without having to go for it. Collect the bosses with objects that an enemy leaves when they die, or give you a small extra loot when performing certain actions (for example, increase your collection of plants, minerals, etc. by 5%).
In addition, these Pets could be paid in a Chash Shop and there would be no problem since the “help” it gives you is really tiny. Who says that + 5% of the plants you collect is P2W … it is simply that New World has not played much. That one player collects 300 fibers and another 315 does not make any difference, it is only something “symbolic”, it is barely half a plant more. It helps you, yes, but it will not make you better than another player nor will you have a great difference compared to anyone. Although I want to talk about this in another Post, I also want to do about a Cash Shop and what kind of articles to add so as not to make New World a P2W MMORPG.
In some cases, a Mount can also be a Companion, and even a Pet as well. For example, the “wolf” or the “cougar” could be two things at once, even all three.
This would have to be balanced, of course, so that not all players will use this in the future, and that it really is useful for some combinations and not for others. Let the players choose how to make their Mount / Companion / Pet, and it could have a talent tree so they can choose what to focus on more. That would be a more in-depth topic if this were to be seriously considered as in-game content.
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Modifications may come to this Post in the future, and will be added as an answer and / or edit.
Remember once again, that these suggestions are my way of understanding and improving New World, and that of course any other opinion is totally valid as well. I ask for the maximum possible respect in these Posts that I am going to discuss, and if anyone wants to comment, I would ask you, please, that they read the entire Project, all Post with the Tag “[Aurora Project]” and written by me: “Lobo_Necrodes”, to understand its objective.
Thanks for your time and attention, and until next time. Greetings.