Starting later today, you'll once again be able to access the New World PTR. This month, you're getting a look at the brand new winter event, plus access to new quests, a new expertise system, and some much-needed PvP balance changes.
What's on the New World PTR this month?
After a successful debut last month, the New World PTR (public test realm) is returning for December. First and foremost, you'll be able to try out the new Winter Convergence festival event. This event adds new gear, cosmetics, and other items, as well as a brand new sequence of wintry quests. You'll also be able to visit the new Ice Caves zones, which will contain dastardly yetis attempting to freeze Aeternum with their ice powers. Even after the Convergence event is finished, these ice caves will remain, so you'll still be able to visit them if you miss out this year.
There's also a major change coming to the High Water Mark system. In order to implement a "compelling and diverse endgame", AGS has added a brand new Gypsum resource, which will drop from activities like world bosses, outpost rush, and corrupted breaches, among others. You can craft Gypsum Orbs from this new resource, and you can use those orbs to get a High Water Mark (now called expertise) bump and a piece of gear. There's also a brand new Trade Skill Aptitude system, which allows you to progress beyond level 200 in any given skill. You can read the full New World PTR patch notes right here.
How can you access the New World PTR?
Accessing the New World PTR is simple. You should see a special app underneath the main game in your Steam library; all you need to do is fire up the PTR app and try to log in to one of the special worlds once the PTR is up and running. Access is first come first serve, so if you don't make it, you may just need to wait until a spot opens up. AGS says the PTR is mainly for reporting bugs and other problems, so if you've got any feedback on design elements, it may not be heeded. Reporting yet another economy-breaking glitch, however, is encouraged.
You can grab New World via Steam right now. It doesn't have a subscription fee, so once you've bought it, you won't need to pay anything extra to continue playing. You may want to hold off on doing so for a little while, though. After a strong start in terms of sales and exposure, a raft of game-breaking and economy-shattering bugs have left many New World players feeling disgruntled. Amazon continues to try and squash these bugs, but it's an inauspicious beginning for such a high-profile MMO. We'll bring you more on New World as soon as we get it.
Will you be checking out the New World PTR this December? Let us know in the comments below!