Nighthaven Day 2 AKA WHAT IS UP WITH PERKS AND GEAR!?

A dream item!

 We are two days into the Nighthaven update for New World: Aeternum, and the community is lit up about the new gear system. There is confusion about how perks should work. There is excitement at the new possibilities. There are cooks in the kitchen, brewing up the next meta. And I'm just over here saying, “folks, this ain’t right.”

 The main thing that "ain't right" is that the old perks are showing up on new gear drops, allowing for super-stacking of old and new perks together. Then, with the new perk charm slots, where you can slot one of the new perk charms, you can pick the same perk that is already on the item. For example: I was able to stack four instances of Enchanted Ward on a single armor piece—a dream for a tank, but a setup that makes zero logical sense.

 I scoured for dev updates all day yesterday, and the only hint that something might be wrong was a note from Kay (the lead for New World) that the team was investigating the reports. Investigating—not "fixing a bug." I was worried this might be the new state of gear and was not excited about what it might mean.

 Fortunately, fast forward to today, and NW Joel posted that it was not working as intended and provided clarity on what should or should not be happening. The old perks should not be allowed on new gear, and the same perk should not be allowed twice on the same item. Other perk stacking, like having multiple magical resists on a single armor piece, was confirmed as "working as expected," which is fine.

 Now we wait for a fix to be rolled out, which will involve updating a lot of perks on gear drops and will no doubt ruffle some feathers for players who have invested upgrade materials into gear. The devs were clear they are not planning on refunding any materials or umbral crystals invested in crafting or upgrades (full text copy of the dev response pasted below).

 So I sit at level 70 still, with some slightly upgraded gear from my old gear set. I'll be waiting for the fix to be deployed before I jump into targeting my endgame build update.

 

Reddit thread discussing NW Joel's update

Text of what NW Joel posted: 

    Hey all,

    Wanted to give a couple updates on a few issues related to perks and gear that you may have encountered recently.

    Old Perks on new gear. This is unintentional. We are investigating this right now and a likely fix will be replacing old perks with new sockets if you end up in this scenario. Again this is still under investigation so the outcome may change here. For now have fun min/maxing these combos, but this gear will be subject to change for anyone that uses old perk mods on new gear and the mods will not be refunded if we decide to change this interaction.

    I have seen screenshots of multiple of the same charm on an item. Though it is intentional to have multiple of the same socket type it is not intentional to have multiple of the exact same charm itself. If you are in this state any duplicate charms do not stack and you are wasting perk space. An additional note that it is intended for multiple variant perks such as Void Protection II & Flame Protection II to roll on the same items. There is diminishing returns when stacking perks and its something we are watching.

    Spider Cave: There was a cave that was giving out a considerable volume of loot that attracted players to it. Overall much of this loot is what I would consider entry gear for endgame and much of the chase will be around sets and 4 sockets. If it werent for the performance concerns, we would have left it. With that being said I will look towards alternative paths long term like this without congregating every last one of you to the same spot.

    I added a known issue where upgrading artifacts final perk can revert your gs back down to 700 if you have spent umbral. We are working on a fix for this. For now I would recommend against it.

    Focused on getting fixes for gear and content ASAP so I am less active in here than the last week apologies.

    Sorry for the delay in responses from me, I have been busy working on fixes.

    Edit for clarity: Replace old perks with new perks not new sockets. Items would stay 3 socket. Sorry noticed that in the first paragraph.


    From above - An additional note that it is intended for multiple variant perks such as Void Protection II & Flame Protection II to roll on the same items. There is diminishing returns when stacking perks and its something we are watching. Yes this is by design currently. I cant speak to all the math behind it though thats more the combat teams deal.

Nighthaven Day 1

 The Nighthaven update for New World is now a full day old and as of this morning one bug fix patch better.  I put in a few hours last night and made some progress through the new zone and story quests.  Here are some quick thoughts.

• The visual are amazing and it is a treat to run across the zone and explore the numerous locations.  Multiple locations have spyglasses at their highest points that give a cinematic view of nearby locations which has driven me to immediately go explore further.
• Sound is bugged and in some instances deafening as loud bell sounds or loud metal grating sounds override everything else.  This makes combat feel off and required me to reduce over all volume in the game to save my sanity.  It seems to mostly be an issue in indoor areas.
• Doors.  So many doors.  There are several haunted castles and catacombs that are interconnected mini-areas separated by doors. Some doors open and you walk through; others are a teleport.  I am not the biggest fan of this design choice; I'd prefer all doors work equally the same.
• I made level 70 at the end of my play session.  I still am in progress on the main story quest and have multiple side quests in the new zone to pick up yet.  I won't complain about fast leveling but had hoped I'd of needed to invest a little more time and effort to max my level.
• I was able to upgrade one item to 780 GS with the umbrals that I achieved via the quests and a few PvP arena matches.  Per the dev notes we should be able to get 5 pieces upgraded to 800 each week which means likely 2 weeks for a full set.
• Holy gear drops! Everything is dropping gear.  I have so much stuff in my inventory and I didn't even take advantage of the bugged super loot party that they patched out!  Since the new gear and upgrade system is new I am not sure what to salvage and what not to, but I am going to need to spend some time here because I can't keep going at this pace filling up storage!
• Attributes were squashed and with it the amount of damage players are doing is way down.  PvP encounters last longer and feel less spikey.  Also heavy armor players feel less tanky.  We are all still on old gear so I am sure this will change as we all move towards 800 GS.
• Performance has been great for me in the open world but FPS dips 

Things I still need to try:

• Catacombs; the new 3 person procedural dungeons
• The launch version of the new OPR map; Tower of Calomel
• Playing around with perk charms

Some screenshots to go with the adventures

 

Let's goooooooo!

My first werewolf encounter

The scene that greets players as they begin their adventure into Nighthaven

Don't mind my pumpkin helmet; I will get your thingy back!

Yep; there were lots and lots of players.

And I mean lots and lots and lots of players.

Underwater swimming was added.  Notice the missing health?  That's because I can't dodge the underwater lasers...

Wolves eating a dead deer; little touches like this are found all over the zone.

The first of many spooky haunted house/mansions I ventured into.

The first solo soul trial of the new story questline;  Part puzzle and part combat.  Was not a difficult fight with my best in slot 725 gear.

After most solo soul trials a portal is provided to the player to make quick travel out of the point of interest.  A nice touch.

Unlocking my first tarot card.  These cards let you open chests in the zone.  1 down and 24 more to go!

Lots of amazing sites tucked away in different areas.  Had to stop and take a no-UI screenshot.

Another tarot card.

A mini cinematic after using a spyglass to check out the next spooky-looking place to visit.

Big and gothic are the theme here!

A new gatherable, the Anima Quartz, that I found tucked in under a waterfall.

Instead of a normal town Nighthaven features a giant gothic castle for it's settlement.  Players can buy rooms that serve as a house and all of the services of a settlement are available from crafting stations to an inn to call home.

The bridge leading to the new settlement.  Ironically I ended up entering the settlement from the back and not via the scenic bridge route so I got this screenshot on my way out of town.

One of many rooms I explored inside the many buildings the main quest takes players through.

Nice!  Yes I am a young dumb gamer at heart still (pun intended).

During the quest players teleport into a shadow-like realm with a jumping puzzle as a path to get between rooms in a castle.  The jumping is easy enough so I made it through after a couple tries.

Another vista from a looking spyglass.

Eventually players end up at the carnival which serves as a small hub town (no housing, limited stations, but has a recall).  Here you get to meet the jester and other characters.

Meeting the jester who is the first boss in the new end game raid in Nighthaven.

Absolutely no abuse of a never ending loot drop here... sorry for those that missed out on this.  As they say; abuse early / abuse often.  Note: it was just trash gear drops that mostly get salvaged so you didn't miss much.

My first OPR after hitting 70.  My team got steamrolled as I tried to solo it myself.  Ended up in first over all which is sort of impressive as I was basically solo without any team support the entire time. 

New World Nighthaven Launches and Rise of the Angry Earth Now Free

 It's a great day to be a New World Aeternum fan. The new Season 10 update, titled Nighthaven, has launched bringing a new max level, new max gear score, new progression system, and so much more.  At the same time for PC players that bought the game at launch but didn't own Rise of the Angry Earth: that previous expansion is now FREE and included for all owners of New World!  Amazon Games Studio is winning today!

 Reception so far is good with 38,000+ concurrent players enjoying the update so far:

 

ARC Raiders Projects

 

 The news drip from ARC Raiders is speeding up as we march towards the October 30th launch date. Today, there’s an update about how ARC Raiders will handle character wipes. The system is called Projects and is optional. It offers players who want to wipe their character and start over fresh the chance to do so—gaining some bragging rights and cosmetic rewards in the process. I think this is an interesting take on the topic.

 Many online action games with player progression systems have implemented the concept of “wipes” with the intent to reset everything back to even on a set cadence. The goal is to keep the game fresh for veteran players and ensure that newer players can enjoy the game without staring at a mountain of progress to get on equal footing with the veterans. This makes sense for dedicated veterans and new players alike but misses what is likely the biggest player group: what I call the “core gamer.”

 These core gamers, like myself, can’t put massive hours per week into a game, and thus, games with wipes become less attractive because the destination never feels reachable. We are always stuck in the progression step, and while progression is an attractive feature in the games we play, it’s the persistence of that progression that’s the main draw in the first place. Restarting after a mandatory wipe just feels bad. My friend and I quit Once Human, a game we both were enjoying, after the first wipe we were subjected to. We found ourselves logging in the next day irritated at the prospect of cutting down a hundred trees and breaking up a hundred rocks again to set out on the same journey we had just felt we’d reached an established point in.

 ARC Raiders smartly acknowledges that players like me are a core audience for their game, and the Projects concept seems like a good middle ground for all player groups—veterans, newbies, and the core alike. I really like how they’ve framed their decision here:

"Just to make it clear, we absolutely see the benefits a global wipe provides. Veteran players can experience the game fresh, the economy is reset to the baseline, and all players have about the same level of capabilities. At least for a little while.

 However, one thing a mandatory wipe does not do is respect the investment of those players who do not have as much time to play overall. So, as we have done with several other mechanics, before mimicking other established mechanics, we’d like to try our own method. Ideally to the end that best suits ARC Raiders and a larger majority of its players." 

The main concept of the Projects is that their initiation is player-controlled. If I have time in my upcoming gaming schedule, I can opt to start the project, and that will reset my character; my efforts will then go into the project. If I want to play the game more casually, without dedicated time in the schedule, then I don't have to start the project; I just keep on with my persistent progression.

There are still details to understand about how players on Projects interact with those that are not. I assume they will be mixed into matches to avoid creating a queue issue where players are waiting for matches to start. This would be ideal in my book, as it would mix players pursuing different goals into the same matches—and if there is anything ARC Raiders excels at, it’s player-versus-player confrontation.

Also, it will be key to enabling friends to play together that those on a Project can still play with those that are not. There are likely some considerations to avoid abuse—where, if a project (as featured in the article) requires certain items, those items can't just be given to a player by another player dropping them in a match. But the death knell for this type of system and game would be creating a barrier to friends playing together, so I can't imagine they'd block players based on Project status.

The one area I expect to be a hot topic is rewards. As noted in the post, the intent is for Projects to have a non–game-impacting reward structure. So, no combat bonuses just because you finished a project and another player did not. For some players, that may be a reason to question why they would even participate in a project if the reward is only intangible stuff like cosmetics or bragging rights. But just like the element of how wipes don’t respect the time of many players, giving those that complete Projects an advantage would also be a problem for those same players. I suspect that player group is larger than those that want an advantage for completing a Project. Lots of us “core gamers” love our cosmetics and bragging rights when we have the time to work on them and aren’t forced into them.

Overall, I like what I see here. There are lots of details to be felt out, and there will be questions about how fast and effectively new projects can be brought in. Even though the core gamers don’t want wipes, they do want fresh and new content—and a subset of us will be starting every project that comes down the pipeline. Veterans will sweat out every one of them, and new players will jump in and join us on the same journey!

The EA Buyout is Weird

 If you caught the news that EA is being bought out by a private firm and thought it was weird; you are not alone.  Gamers Nexus has a good video that goes over the details and outlines how shady of a deal this is.  It covers most of my thoughts so saves me having to type it all up.  Go watch the video.

Video summary with timestamps; thanks to Gemini

The video discusses the $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts (EA) Games by a consortium of three entities: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners (0:02-0:50). The acquisition raises questions due to EA's history of being voted "Worst Company in America" and the seemingly high valuation compared to other major gaming acquisitions like Activision Blizzard (0:34-1:40).

The Three Buyers:

• Saudi Arabia's PIF: A government-controlled wealth fund with extensive investments in various sectors, including gaming companies like Take-Two Interactive, AMD, and Nvidia (3:42-4:33).
• Silver Lake: One of the world's largest private equity firms, known for its investment in Intel's Altera business and a past investment in a Chinese facial recognition surveillance company, SenseTime, which was later divested due to US government sanctions (4:34-5:46).
• Affinity Partners: An investment firm founded by Jared Kushner, which has received significant investment support from the Saudi Arabian government (5:46-6:25). The video highlights the complex web of connections between these entities and various governments (6:25-6:39).

EA Games' History and Valuation: EA Games is a major developer and publisher known for franchises like The Sims, Battlefield, and various sports games (7:18-8:06). However, the company has faced significant criticism for its microtransaction-focused business model and its tendency to acquire and then abandon or "run into the ground" smaller studios and their beloved franchises (8:21-8:49). The video argues that EA is wildly overvalued at $55 billion (13:44-14:05), especially when compared to the Activision Blizzard acquisition, which included more valuable and consistently high-grossing intellectual properties (14:21-15:46).

Implications and Concerns:

• Ownership Structure: Affinity Partners will hold a 5% stake, Silver Lake will be a substantial minority shareholder, and the PIF will own the rest (8:57-9:05). The transaction is an all-cash leveraged buyout, the largest in history (9:13-9:37).
• Leadership Continuity: EA's current CEO, Andrew Wilson, will remain in his position. The video notes his extensive history with EA and his involvement in the Business Council, a think tank advising US presidents (9:56-11:07).
• Political Connections and Ethical Concerns: The video points out the extensive government connections of the acquiring parties, particularly Jared Kushner's role in facilitating Saudi Arabia's interest in the deal (17:39-18:45). This raises ethical concerns and potential conflicts of interest, especially regarding regulatory oversight (18:45-20:06).
• The Role of AI: The deal is reportedly a "huge bet" that artificial intelligence can significantly reduce EA's operating costs, potentially boosting profits (20:10-20:46). The video speculates this could lead to more "soulless, lifeless cash grabs bloated with microtransactions" (20:46-20:52).
• Saudi Arabia's Gaming Investments: Saudi Arabia has a history of significant investments in the gaming industry, including Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive (20:56-21:10). The Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, established Savvy Games Group with a $38 billion budget to acquire mobile game companies and expand into China, with a potential interest in data acquisition through games like Pokémon Go (21:10-21:49).
• Impact on Consumers: The video concludes that the acquisition will likely be a negative development for consumers, leading to further consolidation of money and power in the gaming industry and potentially more aggressive monetization strategies (25:01-25:40).

 

Testing new Blogger Feature

A Blogger feature update!?  Which just lets me insert search results?  In 2025?

OK I guess.  Here is the "New World Aeternum" search insert.

 

Sunday 9/28/2025 Post: Packer Tie Cowboys

 The Packers went from Super Bowl favorites after weeks one and two; to being the favorite punching bag for /r/NFCMemeWar .  Last week it was an embarassing loss to the Browns after an unthinkable series of events.  Fast forward a week, and while not a loss, another series of unthinkable events lead to a tie with the Cowboys.  The game was a long slog and full of back and forth so was good football to watch, but for a Packers fan it was pure stress.  Below is a picture of my wife taking me to bed last night after the game.

 

New World Aeternum: Tower of Calomel

 A preview of New World's new Outpost Rush (OPR) map, Tower of Calomel, started this week, and after several matches I have some feedback to share. Read on to learn more about this spooky map and its good and not-so-good features.

Dark and spooky!

  First, the theme is on point for a release that is coming out around Halloween. The map is cast in darkness and takes place around the crumbling facade of an old castle. The outer area is full of fountains and gardens. A web of caves snakes underneath, delivering players to different points of interest. The central capture point lies in the castle itself, where a broken staircase leads to an even more broken second floor. Players can look out at the surrounding area from multiple vantage points in the castle. It's a cool-looking map.

A look at the central castle and surrounding area.  The map is much darker than the light in this picture would make you believe.

 With the cool looks comes a lot of clutter, though. There is a lot of uneven terrain where rubble is strewn about or blocks and pillars get in the way of traversal. I found myself constantly getting caught up on objects that blended into the background but protruded enough to stop me. I've missed countless attacks where my target was slightly elevated on a stone or a stairway, or an invisible section of a set piece blocked a ranged attack. I think a pass through the map to reduce both visual and physical clutter would help.

 Optimization wasn't great either, with my frame rate tanking into the 40s/50s for most of the matches. It's worse inside tight indoor areas and better in the outdoor areas. Still playable and with no issues from network latency, so it just seems tied to graphical performance. I am sure this will be ironed out, and this is part of the reason they do preview events for new maps. We had the same issue with Coral Divide when it was previewed, and it was fixed up pretty well by the time it fully launched.

 The map layout is confusing at first, but the more I played the more comfortable I was with it. It is similar to the Coral Divide map, where there are many avenues to move around in, yet you almost always end up at a choke point. With that said, I can see the map being challenging for more casual players, and I think the layout has definitely caused some players to get lost and miss out on contributing to the match. There are some choke-point areas near the spawns, so I've seen a good bit of spawn camping in lopsided matches. If they do a pass to clean up clutter, I think they can also do some work to create more varied paths out of spawn.

Jump pad on the right.  Another look at the map.

 Jump pads have also been introduced to OPR; previously, they were only used on the capture the flag maps. Players can hold the jump button down on a pad and be vaulted in a specific direction. Most often this is to jump over a gap or to go up a level vertically. They are not required, as many areas have other means of traversal to the same spots.

 The jump pads were fun at first, but I am not sure I like them. They are inconsistent, and numerous times the pad never activated and I fell into a gap, or the direction/length of the jump differed from my expectation based on prior interactions. Even if the consistency issue was ironed out, there are other aspects I dislike about the pads. They lead to wonky combat scenarios, with players using the pads as a form of dodge instead of their intended traversal mechanism. Credit to the players who can use them to shake and bake in a fight, but for my taste I'd prefer they weren't there. New World combat is already full of dodges and speed; there doesn't need to be more.

 One thing I really like about the layout is how the gathering nodes are positioned. Trees are next to the side outposts and are clustered together—no more epic journeys across the map to get a pile of wood for building gates and tents. Similarly, the ore is concentrated in the caverns below the castle in close proximity. A quick trip into the catacombs nets a large pile. The closer positioning means faster gathering, which means faster upgrades. If you are a player, like me, who fancies building up the outpost defenses, you don't feel like you have to avoid the entire match to do so. I spent a good bit of time in my matches building up the outposts and at the same time still getting into the fights.

 As far as balance goes, the matches I've been in spanned the gamut—from one-sided stomps (1000 to 13 in one bad example) all the way to nail-biters (1000–997, one of the closest matches I've ever been in). As it's a new map, it's hard to judge what factors into a team’s success, as many players are still adapting, but it does feel like the map layout lends itself to players getting distracted from the control points and strung along in fights elsewhere. Not fighting on the points is a sure way to lose them. This is nothing unique to this map, though, so it's hard to say for sure.

Holy cow that was a nail biter 1000-997!  And I made 4th over all on my team (blue)!

 Some early feedback I read worried the map favored range over melee. While there are sniping positions, such as the second story above the main capture point and the ledges around the castle, there are plenty of places for melee to shine. In my heavy flamethrower build, which is effectively melee range, I rarely felt like I was just a sitting duck for pot shots. I had plenty of cover to navigate around, and I could push ranged players without feeling like it was just empty space between us. Yes, there are certain times where matches got sideways and camping sets in, which is why I mentioned earlier some adjustments to the spawn areas and how players flow into the map from them would help.

 Overall, I like the map. I like the theme and the many nooks and crannies to explore while looking for a fight. I would like to see some cleanup of the visual and ground clutter, and I think a swipe at adjustments to the spawn areas would help. I'd also like to see the jump pads reduced so there are fewer overall, but I am fine if they remain as is. I am looking forward to this map making the regular rotation.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.   

ARC Raiders Hype Level Over 9000

 ARC Raiders is available to pre-order.  Along with the announcement is a ARC Raiders is available to pre-order.  Along with the announcement is a game trailer.  The music.  The sounds. The visuals.  chefs kiss  

 I cannot wait for this game to come out in October!  A "server slam" test version of the game will be available Oct 17-19 for anyone interested to try before you buy.

Monday Screenshots: Some New World Action

 I am getting back into New World again with the hype building for the upcoming Nighthaven update in Season 10.  So of course I had to nab some new screenshots to go with it!

The starting area of the new 3v3 arena map.  Theme is on point!

Indestructable1 and heartlessgamer; back together and terrorizing 3v3s

And we've still got!

Some passerbys stopped to dance a jig while I played a song.

The gator seems displeased I missed my note here while playing him a song.

Oh we definitely still have it (thanks to a healer).

A nice reward on the PvP track; it's been a while since I unlocked a new PvP artifact!  I don't even have the azoth salt to buy it!

Random shot from clearing a corrupted portal.

All praise the Hippo mount!  My favorite mount skin.