New World’s (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063730/New_World/) first expansion: Rise of the Angry Earth will be available October 3, 2023 for $30. The base game starts at $39.99. This means brand new players will need to pay $69.99 to play the full, expanded game. There is not a required monthly subscription fee like some MMORPGs beyond that. That has been happening more in the MMORPG space, as gamers have largely resisted ongoing monthly fees on top of subscription fees for cloud gaming services. It can overwhelm a gaming budget.
Do you remember the MMORPG New World that launched with a pretty big splash in September 2021? Yup, two years ago, seems like it wasn’t that long ago. It was big news at the time, and crushed Steam concurrent player numbers, only to meet a fate like too many new games these days after an exciting launch: player disinterest and game abandonment. Amazon countered by reducing and combining servers to get players to return and existing players to stay. Their newest tactic is releasing an expansion pack: Rise of the Angry Earth. Learned this via Gamespot:
New World’s first expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, will raise the level cap of Amazon Games’ MMORPG while additionally adding a whole new type of rare item for players to chase, overhauling the game’s controversial loot system, completely transforming one of its centrally located zones, and introducing what has long been its most-requested feature: mounts.
Certainly, one huge player frustration — too much walking around — is attempted at being resolved with the addition of mounts. My immediate curiosity was how/when/where can we get them in this expansion pack? What character level is needed to get them? I never played through to end game, max level (60, I believe it was). Made it to like level 40 or so, completed the legendary fishing questline (yup, love fishing in games!) and then was out. The idea of mounts does intrigue me and provide some interest in returning, but almost zero interest in paying $30 for the expansion, needing to gring a bunch more just to earn a mount. Hoping this was something low level players could earn at say level 10-20? Something that will be available to me with limited in game work.
Fortunately, the linked article addressed these concerns, to some degree, before concluding:
Players can unlock mounts fairly early on, as the quest to earn a mount unlocks at level 25. That first mount will be “free” to players who purchase the game’s $30 expansion and complete the introductory quest, though additional mounts and cosmetics can be acquired through play or the in-game shop. Mounts will be exclusive to those who purchase Rise of the Angry Earth and will not be usable by those who only have the base version of New World.
Is this enough to get me to return to this game? Maybe. I did enjoy fishing in the game world, but tired of the seemingly endless grinding. Am not crazy about the expansion cost, but $30 to add mounts, increase the max level cap, add a new zone, lore and artifacts to the weapon system does sound fairly significant upgrades they should have at launch to begin with. Sounds like they also have added something called Seasons and a Battle Pass ($pay$) option to explore more content(?) So, it’s not just the $30 needed to get all of this, or is it? After reading, I’m not sure on that part, but the curiosity is there. My Steam review for New World — not recommended, btw — is here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/tjsnk/recommended/1063730?snr=1_5_9__402
What about others reading? Did you play New World when or after it launched? Are you interested in checking out these new features added in the expansion or are you done with the game? The one and only comment at the time of this writing on the article seems like it might be more than trolling:
Illegal Peanut’s comment might capture some (many?) former players that had much higher hopes for New World. Back to you. Does this Rise of the Angry Earth expansion move the needle for returning and/or playing New World? If not, surely this expansion pack price will go down in the future … there’s always that strategy (wait and see). Your thoughts on New World are welcome in the comments below.