New World: Five things you need to know before getting started


New World is Amazon’s attempt to shake up the MMO world, and it’s currently doing so by offering a very different experience to the likes of World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14. While long queues might be slowing players down a bit with progression, there are plenty of reasons to keep trying. New World offers deeper combat and a more useful crafting system than many of its competitors, so even if you are used to playing MMOs, you might find the change of pace a bit overwhelming at first.

To make sure you start off on the right foot (and to give you some reading material while you wait in the queue), we’ve put together this essential list of beginner’s tips to ensure you are prepared for your life within New World. Aimed squarely at getting you up to scratch as early as possible, you will soon know how to tackle the early stages of the game to the best of your ability.

Get used to the combat fast

New World
New World. Credit: NME.

New World‘s combat system is much more like an action RPG than a regular MMO. The game’s opening tutorial introduces the basics but there’s far more to it than that. A left mouse click performs a light attack while holding it performs a heavy attack but blocking and dodging are crucial to your chances of survival. Shift helps you dodge out of the way while the right mouse button makes you block. Simple, right? Kind of.

When up against multiple enemies or fast striking ones, you need to block more than dodge so that you use less stamina and can withstand a longer fight. Dodging is best when up against a foe that strikes slowly but heavily. It’s vital that you learn the differences as quickly as possible otherwise your health is going to be drained very fast.

In addition, it’s possible to chain together attacks once you understand the recovery times between each blow. Practice makes perfect here and the recovery times vary depending on the weapons you use. Switching between weapons can help you out here too. It’s a good idea to pick two weapons and stick with them so that you can level up your weapon mastery quickly as well as learn how to use them most efficiently.

Combat ties in heavily to the classless nature of New World so think about the character you wish to create. A tank-based character with plenty of points in strength and constitution will fare better with a massive axe or warhammer, for instance, while a dexterity-focused character should favour a rapier.

Stock up on food and camping gear

New World
New World. Credit: NME.

Food and potions are incredibly important to your survival chances. You can add them to your quickslots (3, 4, 5 and 6) so that they are always easy to use.

Different food or rations offer you different buffs with some simply healing you while others offer up stat benefits too. Each of them require different ingredients though and the best ones are not always easy to come by. Skin and butcher animals as often as possible on your adventures. Besides boosting your skinning profession and gaining you some experience, you also gain meat which can then be turned into meals at a camping spot or food table. It’s always a good idea to stock up on some provisions before you head off to complete a few quests.

Camps serve as respawn points as well as a place to rest up and regain health so it’s useful to have resources at the ready to create your own camp. Camping only requires five green woods and one flint starting out and unlocks at level 5. From there, new tiers unlock at level 15, level 25, level 40 and level 55. It’s a great way of being more self-sufficient when you’re on the open road.

Don’t overlook crafting

New World
New World. Credit: NME.

Tied into camping and food preparation, crafting is a major part of New World. Every profession is upgraded by doing something connected to it so it’s always worthwhile spending some time smashing up boulders, collecting herbs, or chopping down trees. Many of the materials are useful when completing quests as well as upgrading your equipment.

In the long term, better crafting tools mean more efficient gathering so aiming to create iron crafting tools is a good early starting point but, whatever you do, just keep crafting. Towns are full of crafting stations and it’s fairly clear to see what you need and how it will help you.

Gathering components can be time-consuming but it’s the kind of thing you can easily commit to while you’re travelling between objectives so it doesn’t feel like such a time sink. It’s oddly calming to do too amongst the heat of the battle.

Explore thoroughly

New World
New World. Credit: NME.

New World doesn’t have mounts for you to jump on and explore the world at speed with. It doesn’t even let you swim properly right now, but it does have a basic fast travel system. You can only use it for locations you have previously visited but it does cut down travel times providing you’ve explored thoroughly in the past.

There’s also another take on fast travel – the ability to recall to the inn you’re bound to but it’s only usable every hour.

Remember – some fast travel requires the use of Azoth – a fairly limited resource gained by completing quests. Don’t use it unless you really need to or the journey is ridiculously far. Generally, it’s a better idea to travel the old-fashioned way and check out what’s going on around you.

By exploring, you can also come across useful chests and supply crates. Usually, these contain crafting materials but sometimes, you’ll stumble across a valuable weapon or piece of armour that can make a big difference to your chances. Look in any structures you come across to track them down.

Join a company

New World Launches
New World. Credit: Amazon Studios

MMOs are at their most fun when you team up with others. New World encourages that through companies. Groups of players from the same faction, joining a company is the ideal way to team up so it’s worth doing exactly that. Make sure to find a company that works for you as some companies are more hardcore than others.

To join a company, you’ll need to make sure they have the same faction as you. At level 8, you get to choose from the Mauraders, Syndicate, and Covenant with each faction offering advantages and disadvantages. Which one is best? There’s no one size fits all solution here. It’s down to you to pick what works for you. You can change faction if needed but only every 120 in-game days so you want to be certain with your choice.

New World is out now.