New World got its latest update today, ushering in the latest edition of Rabbit’s Revenge, and the introduction of shard technology to the servers to help smooth population concerns.
The team had promised some new measures coming that would alleviate the need to increase capacity when new content releases and then merge servers later when populations go back to more normal numbers. Enter shards. The use of sharding should be familiar if you enjoy MMORPGs, since similar tech is already widely in use.
With New World, The initial rollout with the patch will be used on the starting beaches and settlements in two zones, Monarch’s Bluffs and Windsward. The sharding technology will duplicate these areas to accommodate entering players and reduce queue times. ultimately, depending on demand and what's on the table, technical performance, and what else is going on, more regions may get shards later.
Ultimately, they're trying to create a seamless gameplay experience, reducing queues and performance issues. The system they're using will prioritize groups staying together in the same shard as long as capacity exists to accommodate the whole group. If you are solo, you will be prioritized to stay on a shard that also has active friends or Company members whenever possible. You can also try to join someone who is on a different shard from the social menu.
Each area has a dedicated shard for PvP. This means if you flag for PvP, then you’ll transfer to the PvP shard. All of this is done for fairness. There are other considerations when it comes to shards, such as when it comes to Camps and social features, like chat, with the team outlining some of the adjustments to expect in the update notes.
The update also features a number of balance changes and fixes, and of course, launches those bunny hordes into Aeternum for Rabbit’s Revenge. This year's event will be here through June 18th and rewards include a corrupted Flail, corrupted armor skin, and a mysterious emote that is the only reward not guaranteed simply for slaying enough rabbits.
