New World: Forged in Aeternum - Eye on Aeternum (May 2024)

 Eye on Aeternum just dropped for May 2024.  Some thoughts below.

 Rabbit's Revenge is happening!  I had thought it had been dropped for the year due to the Season 5 delay.  I don't know why I like killing rabbits in New World but I do and I'll do it the requisite hundreds of times again this year to get my rewards!

 The video then proceeds to tease the ever-living-crap out of us as they censored the majority of the rest of the video.  I am not sure why they chose to do this?  It will piss the community off and I can't blame the community.  Personally found it a little irritating; I was searching for hippos in the background (of which I found none).

 EDIT: The hippos have been found! They were in the community contest update! I pointed it out in the picture below in case you can't see it.

HIPPOS!

 They better have a banger of an update for June otherwise this video will likely be forever held up as the moment "remember when New World died?".

TLDW; video transcript summary:

The transcript provided is a discussion between Leala (also known as Lydia) and Katy about upcoming content and developments in the game New World. They discuss events like "Rabbit's Revenge," community celebrations, and upcoming Twitch drops. Katy hints at exciting features and updates coming to the game, expressing enthusiasm to share more with the players. The conversation emphasizes the team's readiness to reveal new content and engage with the community. Leala also mentions an upcoming dev update in June where more details will be shared. Overall, it's a conversation geared towards keeping players informed and excited about the game's future.

Summary: Leala and Katy discuss upcoming events and content in New World, emphasizing community engagement and excitement for future updates.

Water World Online!?

 

 If you're anything like me, you have an inexplicable love for the 1995 cult classic Waterworld. There's just something about that post-apocalyptic, ocean-bound setting that captures the imagination. Well, get ready, because a new game called Age of Water is bringing that dream to life in the form of an open-world survival crafter! Big shoutout to the folks at MMO Bomb for putting this gem on my radar.

 First; a video teaser and then more about the game down below the video.

A Drowned World Ripe for Exploration

In Age of Water, our planet has been almost entirely submerged by rising sea levels, leaving only the tallest mountain peaks as scattered islands. You'll step into the shoes (or should I say deck boots?) of a survivor, sailing the endless open waters on your very own customizable ship. I'm talking full-on ship customization - outfit that bad boy with cannons, reinforced hulls, fancy sails, you name it.

The best part? The entire game world is one seamless ocean experience with no loading screens as you sail from area to area. Just uninterrupted, glorious naval exploration and combat. Speaking of combat...

All-Out High Seas Warfare

Get ready to channel your inner pirate captain and engage in intense naval battles against other players or hostile AI forces. Proper ship positioning, crew management, and a keen aim with those cannons will be crucial. I can't wait to join or create my own pirate crew, upgrade our armaments to the nines, and become the undisputed rulers of the high seas!

A True Survival Experience

But it's not just about the combat. Age of Water promises a gritty post-apocalyptic survival experience. Resources will be scarce, so scavenging, crafting, and trading will be essential. I'm looking forward to scouring the remnants of the old world, establishing trade routes with fellow players, and maybe even building up settlements on those scattered island refuges.

Managing my crew's food, water, and morale while braving the harsh elements? Sign me up! The struggle for survival in this drowned world has me hooked already.

What's Next on the Horizon?

Now, Age of Water is currently in early access, but the developers have an ambitious roadmap planned with regular content updates and new features on the way. As it stands, you can already experience the core sailing, combat, and survival gameplay, but there are bound to be new mechanics, storylines, and maybe even clues about what caused this global flooding event.

Who knows, we might even get a chance to start reclaiming the land from the relentless waters eventually! The possibilities have me giddy with excitement.

All Aboard for High Seas Adventures

If you've been craving a truly immersive, open-world naval experience with survival elements and the thrill of ship-to-ship combat, Age of Water should definitely be on your radar. I know I'll be setting sail and carving my own legend into the depths. Who's with me? Let's ride the tide and uncover the secrets of this drowned civilization!

Bigger Badder Battlefield... but will it be Better?

 

 News is out that Battlefield is doing what I always proposed that they do: create a Battlefield live service game that is meant to continue in perpetuity instead of a new game every couple of years.  Singleplayer is also intended to be part of the focus and not just multiplayer. From the article:

Sounds like the series’ steps into being a live service game will continue apace, then - though the implication of a “connected” single-player offering raises more than a few questions after the shuttering of Ridgeline and heavy multiplayer focus of the last few games, especially as Wilson insisted “compelling storytelling” is part of the formula.

 Apparently it's shaping up well according to the boss man over at EA

"A few weeks ago, I was visiting with the teams and I couldn't be more excited about what they showed and what we were able to play,” Wilson said.

 Of course no dates or further details have been provided.

 The real question though is going to be "will it be better?".  Battlefield (and for that matter Battlefront aka Star Wars Battlefield) have had a rough go over their most recent iterations.  Battlefield 2042, even though I rank it on my top 5 BF games, did not hit the mark out of the gate.  Battlefront 2, even though it changed course, was hated by the community for it's shenanigans.

 I am personally optimistic that a new live service focused Battlefield is the right direction for the franchise instead of chasing the Call of Duty model of a new game every year or two.  Throw in some singleplayer that weaves its way in and out of the service and even better.  But please, please make a good game first.

Checking Boxes In New World

 I have 3,000+ hours played in New World.  You may assume I've done and seen everything there is to do in the game, but you'd be wrong.  I have some low hanging fruit that I've not checked off the list and I decided now is the time  to start working on them.

 The first fruit hanging in front of my face was leveling all weapon skills to weapon level 20.  Flail, lifestaff, and void gauntlet were the three weapons I had not yet leveled.  So I grabbed one of each and popped one of my 22 extra "weapon XP boosts" and headed out to Brightwood Isle.

 Why Brightwood Isle?  Because it is a level 30-35 elite zone and if you are max level it is the prime spot for weapon experience.  A few hits per elite enemy results in 100-150 experience.  This makes quick work of the weapon levels.  Note: if you are not max level weapon XP is lower so wait until end game to level weapons as a dedicated activity; while leveling just play what you enjoy.

Level 20 across the board!

 

 Next on the agenda was getting some of my favorite heartrunes upgraded to 700 GS (gearscore).  With Rise of the Angry Earth expansion New World brought upgrades from 625 to 700 to the heartrunes, but the buff is minor so wasn't an item to go out and chase immediately.  But with hundreds of thousands of gold in my pocket and supplies overflowing my storage it was time to get a few to 700.  

 The first up was my Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform which is now 700 GS!  Now I need to sort through inventory to figure out which ones to do next but stoneform is the primary one I use across my current rotation of builds.  Detonate is probably the next logical one to upgrade.

700 GS
Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform

 Next I wanted to set up a couple new builds and those builds were best suited by Frigid Dawn armor pieces.  I already have a full set of Frigid Dawn for my tank and PvP sets, but it is so good I need it for more!  Fortunately Glacial Tarn was on the mutation rotation so I hit the queue button in the new cross-server group finder.  Since I play tank the groups were fast to form and after a dozen or so runs I have all the new Frigid Dawn pieces I need for my Flail and Sword/Shield build!

 Another set of boxes to check was completing some artifact upgrades.  This requires some adventuring and completing various activities as well as letting some of my gold supplies go to buy upgrade materials.  I was able to upgrade Nature's Wrath (medium chest), The Butcher (sword), Odo (flail), Serenity (greatsword), and am almost done with Blooddrinker (ring).  Here is what I put on each for the final perk slot:

• Nature's Wrath - health.  I am using this in a few builds and health was the most universal.  If I was just using it for light Firestaff builds I'd have put Flame Harnessing on it for the + fire damage.
• The Butcher - Adding a Gem Slot made the most sense here so I can add a gem for the situation I want to use The Butcher in.
  
• Odo - Burdening Smite is the best perk here for my PvP flail build I am working on.
• Serenity - Adding a Gem Slot made the most sense here.
• Blooddrinker - TBD; not sure what I'd put on it when I finish it.
  

 The best part of all these artifact upgrades is it freed up quest slots to start more artifacts (you can only have 10 started at one time). 

 Speaking of artifacts I still do not have The Wall so that is on my list next time The Ennead is on mutation rotation.  Note: 43 mutation runs previously without it dropping so hoping the pity mechanic kicks in this next time!

Monday Screenshots: New World New Look

 This time on Monday screenshots... my new look at in New World!

A glass firestaff!?

A cleverly disguised tower shield.

Today

 Remember when I said yesterday I'd get back on track with blogging daily?  Then work happened today.

Everything is fine.

April 2024 In Review

 Taking some inspiration from The Ancient Gaming Noob (TAGN for short) I wanted to start up month-in-review posts.

Microsoft Designer / prompt "an image to represent a blog post summarizing the month of april"

The Blog

 I will likely write a bigger post about this but I had a "surprise" after researching recent random traffic spikes.  The findings are best explained in this summary which guided me through blocking spammers that are abusing Google Analytics GA4 tags.  Needless to say my bubble was deflated as 90% of the traffic to my blog has just been spam and not real traffic (which explains why I see so few comments).  So where I was thinking I had 1,000 visits a day I really just have 100 (and that may still be high).  

 Anyone using Google Analytics should read that article and take the actions to block the spammers and build reports to review your historical traffic without that traffic counted.  I did parts of this through April so won't have a full picture quite yet and will share more on traffic stats in future monthly updates.

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 22 (at least one per week day)
  
• Posted: 16
• Difference: -6
• Why the miss?  Work.  It's been busy so spare time has been gaming instead of blogging.  Fortunately clearing up here for May to get back on track.
•  Search Trends
• "new world ultimate trophy" is the main search driver to the blog and then hundreds of other New World search terms after that (daily checklist, season 5 artifacts, upgrade named gear - just to name a few)
  
• "call of the wild the angler multiplayer" is the big non-New World driver anytime that game seems to have a hiccup with this multiplayer features.
  

What I Played

 New World continues to dominate my time even though there isn't much new to do in the game.  My main focus has been on 3v3 arenas and the Springtide Bloom event.  The spring event, while bugged, was a good "do it and chill".  The bug let you get rewards faster so I was able to get all skins and rewards from the event with less effort than expected.   For 3v3 arenas I peaked into the top 10 for wins briefly for Season 5 and am back to 12th.  My main playing partner hit #1 though so that was cool to see; though both of us lack the time to stay on the top for the full season.  We'll still give it a go though.

 Fallout fever caught me as it has so many others and I gave Fallout 3 a couple hours of attention, but will admit it fell off almost immediately in favor of New World.

 I also got time with the Pax Dei Wilderness Alpha and spent several hours there.  The game has a good bit to improve but there is a little glimpse of promise of game there.

Years Ago

 One thing I wanted to steal from TAGNs is his look back over the last twenty years (we're getting old!).  My look back will mostly be from my blog history but a real life event may pop in here or there.

1 Year Ago

 April 2023 brought us Season 1 in New World and Rabbits Revenge (which due to patch delays we did NOT get in 2024).

5 Years Ago

 April 2019 caught me in my drought of blogging so had no posts, but my youngest son was also just turning 3 months old at the time so I was plenty busy.

10 Years Ago

 April of 2014 was all about the MEGASERVERS coming to Guild Wars 2.  Ten years later and we still have MMOs thinking they can launch with single servers.  How I wish New World had a megaserver model!

15 Years Ago

  April of 2009 I was looking at the news about A Dance With Dragons being delayed and fifteen years later, while we did get Dance, we have NOT gotten the next book in the series!  But GRRM is not my bitch so I'll leave it at that (if you get this comment you get it).

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.  And April of 2005 I was not yet blogging, but that was all about to change as I started in May 2005!  Which means I was thinking about it in April!