I think NW has the brightest future of all current and previously announced in-development mmorpgs simply because it has proven that its foundation has endless potential and is a game already released and loved by a dedicated fan base and AGS consistently continues to improve it, directly communicates with its playerbase and actively asks for their feedback.
Also, it is the only mmorpg with no pay2win thanks to the Expertise system that allows even the most casual players to build their perfect character at their pace. This alone is the biggest make or break it for me considering even if you buy all the gold in the game or bot endlessly undetected, you still have to work hard to power up your character by yourself.
My dream NW 2.0+ looks something like this:
An entire new continent with multiple zones based on different past cultures including (1) 9th century Baghdad, (2) 10th century Andalusia, (3) 17th century Istanbul-inspired zone a la WoW’Dalaran, (4) Babylon/Akkad, (5) Persia, (6) Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, (7) Francia
The order of who took over/destroyed whom: Babylon being the most ancient and greatest/cradle of all human civilization-> Persia being its destroyer and Baghdad being the destroyer of Persia then dominator of Syria then Spain and the center of the world back then-> Istanbul and its Mongolian link and it being the destroyer of Baghdad. Then we have the Visigothic kingdom + Francia taking over Andalusia.
Reworked faction-level territory control is made specific to PvP-always-on servers (Edit: This PvP-always-on server doesn’t mean you won’t have pve in it… just means PvP is always turned on at level 50+ (lower levels won’t worry about getting griefed that way) and you have territory control being player versus player based at the faction level instead of company level like now. That’s it. Only two differences, the rest is the same.)
Faction leadership is made up of a council of leaders from several companies based on new war-win conditions at the faction level with the possibility of having a faction king-like position for both PvP and PVE sever types
PVE-only servers (PvP in the open world is optional) with open world town invasions, and enemy NPC’s taking the role of territory domination versus players - instanced invasion system removed (remove the instanced PVE invasion mode and make it open world to compensate for lack of open world PvP, but maybe add that and also keep the instanced mode but with some more variety in mob and boss types as well as the map itself and objectives.)
Introduce PVPVE to help the weaker faction side by letting them control super powerful NPC’s directly by certain players with officer/commander PvP ranks against the over numbering enemy faction in the open world on PvP servers
Story/Lore based questing with cinematics and new quest mechanics/puzzles…etc.
Combat overhaul with PVE-only changes such as adding back the third weapon slot or adding multiple charges per active combat skill only on PvE servers
Cross server queues for PvP instanced modes including between PvP and PVE servers
Cross server expedition group finder
OPR map with ship battles
Instanced flexible 10-40 man (the more players the harder the content gets) PVE raids (instanced mini multi-raid-boss zones like OPR)
PVE group vs group e-Sports ready 8v8 mode where two mid sized raid groups race each other to kill several bosses/trash mob packs and achieve other objectives using new mechanics
Dynamic open world raid bosses that increase in power as more players tag the boss
Xmog system with the freedom to dye, mix and match any two or more pieces including from store bought sets,
Open world gladiator dueling arena with betting/tipping similar to music profession
Faction identity immersion additions reflected in cosmetics/environment …etc. such as specific gear sets and weapons, houses, environment structures, facial customization options via the store …etc
PVE arenas are turned into instanced solo challenges
Corrupted breaches overhauled with more variety and retuned to be mostly soloable at-level content with the exception of endgame zones
Equalized PvP arenas and wars with their own ranked ladder and exclusive rewards (cosmetic)
OPR/open world PvP (including fort battles) continue to be gear-based (non-equalized)
New weapons
New expeditions
Mounts with skins that can be bought from the store
Loadout saving
Third talent tree per weapon and increase of talent points from the current maximum of 20
One additional skill per weapon added to active skills bar increasing the total combat skills to 4 per weapon
lively towns with NPC’s walking around, selling, crafting…etc using proximity voice over
New mob families including birds
Level/GS increase to 70/700
Large grouping of players for raid groups of 10-50 players UI with healer ability to focus on a specific group to heal
Still no swimming in gear, but we can enter a swimming mode similar to the music mode that allows us to previously select a swimming suit that disappears/exists swimming mode upon leaving water/beach areas. Swimming mode can be enabled around beach areas as well so you can hang out in bikinis that you can buy from the store.
THIS.
Been advocating something like it since shortly after launch, when it was apparent to everyone except AGS that the territory control system was exploitable and toxic.
First your idea started well. Then you wrote PVP Server and that was the point I’m out.
This game has PVE at it’s Core with PVP essentials. Only PVP Server won’t work.
Plus, we don’t need a new Island, Aeternum has a lot of undiscovered boarders to explode.
Maybe starting with some Nepal/Indian setting at the backside of the shattered mountain with a real jungle with Elefants (and hippos) and if you go west, Persia would work, because it would be also connected to brimstone sand
And I just throw in some Wiking setting. We know they “discovered” America. So maybe they found Aeternum too
The PvP server doesn’t mean you won’t have pve in it… just means PvP is always turned on and you have territory control being player versus player based but at the faction level instead of company level like now. That’s it. Only two differences, the rest is the same…
Oh i Know what that means. And my point is clear. It won’t work
You think it will improve the open world PVP and the pvp experience. But it will just end in griefing parties and people who just port instead of making the world
PvP will only work if it has rules. Otherwise the strong will always abuse their position. We just need to watch the developing of New World. From “full loot survival pvp”. And you can’t compare it to EVE Online oder WOW. Because both geames has NPC Guards. But NW and they way they built the world, doesn’t allow that.
Don’t get me wrong. I really love pvp and enjoy it a lot in several games. But new world isn’t designed for open world PVP. The developers noticed their mistake in the alpha Tests and decided to build it with a PvE core.
If they would want to go for more pvp focus, they would need so many things to be changed. And they will never invest so many resources for that, because they made their direction clear. And they don’t want to risk loosing their PVE enjoying community for another pvp experiment which failed once before
I see your point. They can always introduce PVPVE to help the weaker side by letting them control super powerful NPC’s directly by certain players with officer/commander PvP ranks against the over numbering enemy in the open world.
And this it the point that collapses with the new world world building. There exist almost no npc. Only the ones we discover in the settlement and the main/side story
I mean, they could completely change the lore and some parts of me are really looking forward to it (for example, when i hold a town and I’m marodeur and get attacked by syndicate, why aren’t the faction leader at the castle with me defending together?)
But i really doubt they will put effort into it. Creating NPC who can move and interact is so much effort with so many things that can go wrong. (For example there are almost no games where you have an NPC you need to escort who is not super annoying)
And that’s only the beginning. And in the end it would be just time used for a too small player base
Alterac Valley from WoW, throne of liberty’s player controlled PVE monsters turned into a PvP destruction machine…etc. doesn’t need to be revolutionary to work…
A simple search on these forums and Reddit will show just how extremely popular the idea of servers that have PvP-always-on-everywhere is.
If it’s difficult to create two server types one PvP-always-on and one PVE-only, then it might be even more profitable for AGS to create an off-shoot buy to play game and allow paid transfers between the two games.
So im not gonna do a huge idea due to time but i want an expansion focusing on the continent and the inquisition lost troops. The witch hunt is such a cool setting for me personally and i really want to see them take that and run with it. Basically brightwood but an entire brimstone size continent with werewolves, witches, sneak attacking mobs, mysteries to solve, corruption to root out of town and so on. It has Soooo much potential for a new world expansion.
Mine is simple because I love the game how it is for the most part but these are the few other things that would make it even more ideal for me.
Raids
Adding a barber shop so we can customize how our characters look whenever we want like all other mmos do.
A way better inventory management system (besides storage) since we have to carry around so many different types of gear depending on the content we do.
More PvP type maps like a CTF map, another OPR type map etc.
Make all expeditions mutated and have them all open at once instead of 2 a week.
Remove the cap for Mutations or at least make mut 1-8 uncapped for now and increase the 9-10 mut cap.
That’s about it for me. Their world, ambiance, lightning and music are all amazing etc.
