GDC 2018 is once again in full swing. New World’s director of esports, Duane “ChinaDUANE7” LoSanto has been sharing his thoughts on the game and what he hopes to see from it over its future iterations.
The “anthem game creative director” is a person who has been working on the “Anthem” video game for 2 years. They discuss testing cadence, future features, and contending with update issues.
The unpredictability of New World is well-known among MMORPG aficionados. The game’s initial launch was a success, but it has been plagued by a slew of issues in recent months, ranging from exploits to feature shutdowns to factional imbalances, among other things, and while the game’s player count is still significant, the concurrency numbers at the time of this writing represent a significant drop in comparison to the over 900K that the game saw at its peak. Naturally, none of this is lost on director Scot Lane, who spoke with PC GamesN about New World’s present and future.
Lane says in the interview that the dev team was overly focused on resolving bugs rather than connecting with players, and that patch releases were sent out too quickly. Simultaneously, he feels the programmers are striking the correct balance between patch release and testing time, explaining that additional resources being allocated to testing and the launch of the game’s PTR are both steps toward enhancing the patch experience.
Lane also mentions that the designers’ first focus is to improve the current game, even if new content is on the way. Additional endgame activities, more stuff for early and mid-game players, and “possible solutions” to solve faction imbalance in territorial control are among the priorities. He also mentions that the island of Other World will not be the only area players will encounter in the game, as new expeditions, quest kinds, and dynamic events are currently being built.
Finally, Lane mentioned a few quality-of-life enhancements that are in the works, such as the option to check character inventory while on the go, the addition of extra quest and crafting markers, and the creation of a group finder for excursions.
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