I’ve been playing for awhile now and have been finding it hard to finish getting to level 60. The game has a number of problems with it still, but I find the most frustrating and obnoxious thing in the game has to do with how strong regular trash mobs are.
No other MMORPG to date that I can think of has such strong and aggressive trash mobs. Trash mobs should not be pushing players back so much and moving you out of your own AoE’s. As well, they should NOT have white, Grit attacks. There is no need for simple trash mobs to have these. Leave these for PvP and for Bosses/Elites.
If you think about it, players spend a lot of time fighting trash mobs both while leveling and at end game. Half of the content is not solo-able or at least not fun to solo because there are too many annoying mechanics involved to enjoy the PvE combat aspect of the game.
It looks like the developers wanted to provide some kind of survival challenge to the game by having the trash mobs be annoying, pushing you around, and staggering you. Thus forcing you to move around, dodge, block, etc. However, there isn’t much player CC in the game to counter mobs and there is no “perfect parry” in the game to riposte from your attacks like what Dark Souls has (aside from literally the Rapier which is the only weapon that can do this move but only if you take it). Its clear that there was some inspiration from Dark Souls but it seems only the most bare bones basic was taken from it for final release.
There are a number of solutions to this problem aside from simply removing trash mob stagger and grit attacks. Again, please keep in mind, its not that trash mobs are “difficult” by any stretch of the imagination, they are just extremely annoying. Its enough to make people stop playing the game and they already have. Its also why players are sticking to certain metas which overcome these issues (lol greataxe and greathammer).
If removing mob grit attacks and moving player models around is not going to happen then I at least propose the following:
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More skills for each weapon period with CC options in every single weapon. With the ability to actually crowd control mobs and have more tools for dealing with each problem, the game improves on multiple levels. Players will have to save their CC skills for when most needed and let them escape dangerous situations, just like other MMO’s. This would give players more control in PvE situations especially when pulling more than 1 mob at a time. Gutting skills and restricting them to 3 per weapon was probably one of the worst decisions that was ever made. For PvP then its just a simple solution of making CC’s not stack and adding temporarily immunity after getting CC’d or adding more “escape” abilities that players have to burn to get out.
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Adding more stagger or impact to each weapon. It could even be a behind the scenes threshold that builds up each hit the mobs take. Going over the threshold staggers the mobs for a second, creating much needed breathing room. Very few skills stagger or CC for more than 1 second in the game.
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Making the player immune to multiple instances of stagger, CC, etc. This has been mentioned a ton on both the Steam forums and here, and I feel its going to be the likely option as it also benefits PvP. Any game that I have played that did not have a diminishing return mechanic for CC did not do well. The reason being is it is NOT FUN LOSING CONTROL OF YOUR CHARACTER FOR ANY SUBSTANTIAL PERIOD OF TIME. I write this in caps because that is an extremely important note that every developer needs to understand. All the top MOBA’s and MMO’s understand this. If New World wants to compete, they’re going to have to get on top of this.
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Simply reduce the amount by which PvE mobs drain your stamina bar when you block. This leaves room to dodge from the most dangerous attacks and bosses. It also lets players block a bit safer from multiple mobs.
Also, lets face it, nobody in this game wants to or enjoys pulling 1 mob at a time. I get that this was likely the thinking going into developing the game, but its not what players want.
Here’s to hoping some changes will be made coming up in the next few months to make this game more enjoyable for everyone. I feel the addressing the issues mentioned above will also help with onboarding new players, making their experience less frustrating, and possibly even bringing back some of the players who quit previously.
Looking forward to seeing what comes of the game.