New World gets its December update today after a very slight delay. This update is extensive, including the promised end game fixes after community feedback was taken into account and the Winter Convergence Festival.
The Winter Convergence Festival runs from today through January 11th in Aeternum, and features holiday villages, ice caves, new quests, presents and more. And we can’t forget the giant yeti in the room, the Winter Wanderer, who thrives on the tokens everyone will be able to collect from festival activities. Those tokens will also be tradable for some of the new items in the festival holiday shop. That yeti wants the winter to be forever, so the ice caves are part of his plan. These ice caves will remain after the event comes to an end, if the yeti is defeated or not.
Considering the scope of the update, it touches everything in the game and includes some new additions as well as changes. There have been changes made to the main story quest to improve the experience. The team has also added something new called Housing Quests which are unlocked as you progress in territory standing. These find you able to assist an architect as he's making new houses. If you help him you'll earn new rewards like furniture and decor.
Combat gets some fixes with an update to the PvP damage formula that was making lower-tier gear better at damage mitigation. They’ve also added a series of new perks, including ones that boost resource gathering, like Harvesting Efficiency speed 5-25% as well as damage increase and reduction bonuses and status effect on hit. Weapons themselves also got tons of updates, including the Void Gauntlet, which the team still seems to be finding the sweet spot on.
There’s a new feature called Trade Skill Aptitude intended to change and make crafting more rewarding. When you reach level 200 in a trade skill, you're leveling circle will show three markers. Reach one of these markers by earning more trade skill XP and you'll get a container featuring relevant items. Every time you reach another marker, you'll get a better container with additional rewards. If you complete the entire circle your Aptitude counter will go up by 1. This system comes with a new reward called Equipment Patterns which reward dedicated crafting and enable crafting a guaranteed Gear Score 600 item.
For the full extensive notes, head over to New World.
