Amazon Game Studios‘ MMO New World has merged several the game worlds players inhabit, in a move seemingly aimed at boosting population numbers.
The world mergers affect players in four real world regions, US East, US West, Australia, and Central Europe, with New World’s servers briefly going offline yesterday (December 17) to accommodate the changes.
A lengthy list of what the mergers entail, and where players will find themselves next time they log into the game, were published on New World’s official forums (as spotted by TheGamer). It’s an exhaustive list, with 33 shifts for Central Europe alone.
On a separate FAQ explaining the methodology behind world mergers, New World’s developer says that “there are a few things we look at in order to determine if the world is unhealthy” and in need of merging into another. These include “population size and overall engagement”.
However, it’s thankfully not a case of just mixing worlds randomly together. Amazon adds that it compares “existing worlds in the world set to find the most optimal partner world by comparing elements like faction, gameplay style, and language.”
After a world has been migrated, players from the moved world will still retain all their in-game items and progress. However, any territory gains made in the original world will be lost, as the new host’s state of control will remain in place.
The latest set of world mergers are the second in just a month for New World. On December 9, more Central Europe servers and several in South America were affected.
Amazon Game Studios may be juggling players to better increase server population, but it is also adding plenty of fresh content to New World. It has also recently added a Winter Convergence Festival to the online game, and a crossover event with Amazon Prime Video’s epic fantasy series Wheel of Time.
In other news, after 20 years, classic action RPG ‘Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance’ is finally available on PC and Mac, while a Sony has renewed its trademark for The Order: 1886, sparking speculation that a sequel is in order.
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