New World is attempting to assuage fans of the MMO in their latest Q&A video, and in doing so may have come off looking a bit worse for wear.
The Q&A for June sees game director Scot Lane, senior producer Katy Kaszynski and creative director David Verfallie answer a multitude of questions coming from fans of Amazon's MMO ARPG, which announced last week during Summer Game Fest that it's being rebranded and coming to console. The announcement, which sparked a ton of confusion among journalists and players alike as to what exactly what going on with the PC version, has not sat well with the player base that has carried New World to this point.
The June Q&A was, therefore, addressed directly to those PC players who are upset with the developers and feel left by the wayside, as evidenced by the extreme review boming New World Aeternum has been receiving. Explaining why the announcement felt directed at console players, despite it being PC fans who were told to wait until the June announcement, Lane simply said that the June 7th announcement was intended to be a "clear announcement for all of the new players," though clear isn't exactly how many PC players would call it.
"Our first announcement on June 7th; it was really important that we had a very clear announcement for all of the new players who, you have to remember, a lot of people have never heard of New World. They don't know what it is, so for us to get it out there, we wanted a nice, clean message to them."
One of the other major questions players have been having is why Amazon is intent on erasing its MMORPG genre tag, instead now calling New World: Aeternum an ARPG. Lane also attempts to answer this, though I'm not sure it is going to land as well as the team would hope.
"Well, you can still play Aeternum the way you've always played it, but because of all the changes we've done to the storytelling, the way we tell the story, because of the way our camera and combat navigation work through the word, we feel like we're across so many genres, but this pushes us solidly into the ARPG, which is a little more well known on console."
What is coming to New World: Aeternum the PC players can look forward to is the new content announced alongside the console announcement. Cutlass Keys has been upleveled and is the open world PvP zone, while the cinematic dialogue camera, quality of life improvements, and more are also being pushed to the PC version. Solo Trials are coming, as well as an increased gear score for endgame players to chase. And, of course, there is the upcoming 10-player raid. And while you'll need to own Rise of the Angry Earth to access everything that New World: Aeternum has on offer, not owning the expansion doesn't mean you'll miss out on some of this stuff.
As far as what PC players can expect in the current version of New World until Aeternum's launch, it's pretty skinny. The Summer Medleyfaire is still kicking off this summer, but other than that, there won't be any major additions to the game as Amazon gears up for its October 15th launch.
