Six months after its initial launch, developer Amazon Games has revealed its development roadmap for New World. The troubled MMORPG has had a difficult start to life with its lack of new content being a huge problem. The hope among players is that this roadmap that details plans for spring, summer, and autumn shows that Amazon has an intent to fix that.
Spring will see the arrival of a new Expedition, Tempest’s Heart. This is the finale of the Isabella arc of the main story. Bringing a new weapon, the Blunderbuss, the Expedition will arrive alongside the March update. The Blunderbuss is a short-range shotgun that offers high mobility and scales with strength. Both of these can be tested on the Public Test Realm ahead of their release on the live servers later this month.
The development roadmap also confirms that improvements to the PvP aspects of New World are planned. These will come later in spring, with 3v3 Arenas and a new PvP Reward Track both in the works.
Can it make a comeback?
The remainder of the year will see Amazon’s focus switch back to PvE. The Barnacles & Black Powder Expedition is coming in summer, and the Ennead Expedition is in autumn. Summer will also see the introduction of an expedition group finder, which has been one of the most requested features since launch. Another new weapon is coming in autumn in the form of the Greatsword, a large two-handed blade.
In many ways, New World has served as a lesson on what not to do for other developers. Despite its impressive visuals, sound design, and satisfying combat, it still fell short of its player base’s expectations. The numerous oversights, lackluster design, and countless bugs have seen the mass majority of its players quit. But with this roadmap looking promising perhaps there is still an opportunity for New World to make a comeback.
