New World Roadmap Announcement With New Seasonal Model And Other Huge Changes
New World’s 2023 roadmap has arrived. The year will be split into four total seasons and the first season, Fellowship & Fire, will arrive on March 28, 2023. This is a substantial change in direction for the Game, as there will apparently be a much swifter rollout of new content. Each new season will feature a new storyline, seasonal events and challenges, as well as a free and premium season pass rewards track with cosmetics, crafting items, and more. It’s clear that the team saw the success of the Brimstone Sands update and wanted to increase the rollout of new content.
We had the chance to talk to the creative director, David Verfaille, about these changes. When asked about the price point of the premium season pass, which comes in at $20 or 20,000 Marks of Fortune, Verfaille said that the team had thought long and hard about what to price the pass at, and that they’d landed at a cost that provided a lot of value for players in terms of cosmetics and other rewards. They didn’t want the pass to offer comPetitive advantages, but rather quality-of-life boosts and interesting season-restricted cosmetics. Once the season is over, those cosmetics will no longer be available. We should also note that you won’t get enough Marks of Fortune from the pass to simply renew it at the start of the next season.
There were some concerns around pay-to-win in our discussion with Verfaille. The team stressed that all the rewards available from the premium track were also available in-Game and via the free pass track. The only major concern I have with the system is the introduction of Token Boosts, which are bought boosts to crafting, gathering, and other trade skills. These offer no direct impact on stats, but may be an extreme advantage for players when there are new zones with materials to gather and craft. These boosts are also available via the premium pass.
Aside from any concerns around pay-to-win, it’s actually fascinating how detailed this New World roadmap is considering the pretty slow rollout of content over the past year. Seasons last exactly three months and then rollover into the next. Even a quick glance at the roadmap suggests that this will be the busiest year for New World yet, which is what Verfaille said was really the intention of this new seasonal model. In Season 1, gear set storage is introduced (at last, no more micro-managing gear), as well as a new expedition (the Empyrean Forge), a new Heartrune ability, various seasonal events, new main story quests, balance updates, and of course, the first season pass.
In season 2, we’ll get Transmog for gear, a 10 person Season Trial, the Sandworm boss fight, and Cross World Outpost rush. By season 3, we’ll see a zone “transformed” (whatever that means), as well as Mounts, a new weapon, and a new expedition. By the end of the year, we’ll see a new season trial, season trinkets, new expeditions, and seasonal territorial control. Each season has a unique story and unique seasonal challenges. There is so much to unpack here.
When we asked Verfaille whether the new seasonal model would restrict changes to the main story quest or additional seasonal events, he told us that the team would still continue to release other content when they saw fit. As it states on the roadmap, “This roadmap may change and does not include all planned content,” which means there may well be some other surprises on the way. It’s also important to note that quite a lot of the “seasonal” content will also be season-restricted, which means the seasonal storylines can only be played during that season.
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