New World
Some New World players are intentionally killing their characters in order to travel faster in the vast game world of the Amazon Games MMO.There are no mounts in New World, or "mounts" for friends, thanks to quickly travel from one part of the map to the other. On the other hand, there is a function for fast travel, but it has limitations. First, it can only be activated at a shrine or settlement. In addition, a certain quantity of the Azoth resource is needed, the cost of which varies based on distance, the faction that controls the territory and the weight of the equipment. Alternatively, you can use fast travel to return to the last inn you checked in, but only once per hour.
As Gamespot reports, due to these limitations, some players have now got into the habit of committing suicide rather than wasting time on long hikes or wasting resources. In fact, if you die you will automatically return to your base camp (if within 500 meters) or the nearest settlement.
New World, collision with a bear Dying in New World, however, reduces the durability of the players' equipment and repairs obviously have a cost. However, it is a sacrifice that apparently many are willing to make in the name of efficiency.
This tricks are obviously a symptom that something in the fast travel system is not working as it should, so it is not excluded that the Amazon Games developers make some tweaks to the mechanics.
Meanwhile, New World has already hit one million players on day one alone, with Amazon Games promising the arrival of server transfers.
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Amazon Finally Strikes Gold With ‘New World,’ So What Now?
Given that Amazon is one of the largest companies in the history of civilization, it’s hard to view them as anything approaching an underdog in any industry, and yet that’s sort of been their case with their gaming ambitions.
Other than buying the already-popular game streaming destination Twitch, Amazon has struggled to break into the larger gaming industry, between both Amazon Luna, its streaming service that is somehow talked about even less than Google Stadia, and its first party game development has stubbornly attempted to use Amazon’s own Lumberyard engine instead of more common tools to make games.
MORE FROM FORBESTen Things I Wish I Knew When I Started 'New World'By Paul TassiThis has resulted in failure after failure with a graveyard of cancelled titles in Amazon Games’ wake. The one potential bright spot was New World, an MMO, but a game that too endured all manner of struggles, delays, focus shifts, even accusations of cultural insensitivity that required large scale reworks. The odds were stacked against it.
And yet, New World made it out. It’s a hit, with a million players on day one, and a playerbase that is continuing to grow, only limited by server queues that even Amazon, master of servers, cannot effectively handle yet, with the game’s popularity surprising even them. The game is the fifth most concurrently played title in Steam’s entire history, behind legends like PUBG and DOTA (and Cyberpunk), and could not have had a stronger start if it tried.
New World
AmazonThis raises a larger question of what kind of foothold New World may give Amazon in the industry now. Unlike Google, which folded up its first party studio before it released anything meaningful, Amazon threw time and money at the problems until at least one gem was produced in the form of New World. And if they did it once, they can presumably do it again with lessons learned.
Amazon, of course, is about 20 years behind most of its rivals, if not more. Microsoft, another massive tech giant, has been in this space with Xbox since 2001. Sony and its PlayStation division even longer. And then there are the “gaming-only” companies like Nintendo, Activision, EA and Ubisoft.
But...I feel like Amazon probably smells blood now. There is no industry it does not want its tendrils in, and we are now living in an era where you can read a review of New World (owned by Amazon) in the Washington Post (owned by Amazon) which extolls how many Twitch viewers it’s getting (owned by Amazon). And I think that’s making at least a few people nervous.
Microsoft has managed to create a “for the gamers” image that resonates well with fans, but Amazon doesn’t have that rapport yet. I think they could get there someday, but if how they’ve handled Twitch is any indication, and how much they’ve struggled with game development and company culture there, it may be a long road, even with New World being a hit.
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