New World Talks About The Design And Development Of The New 3v3 Arenas

Amazon Game Studios talks up the design process that went into New World’s upcoming 3v3 Arena in their latest dev blog. The original design was apparently much bigger but was scaled down to remove the advantage that ranged players would get in large open areas. Pillars were also added to break ranged players’ lines-of-sight and force them to move around rather than simply hunkering down and sniping enemies from a distance.

“Our first pass on the Arena level ended up being way too big and the Arena took quite a long time to run around, which gave ranged players a really heavy edge in matches,” said the devs. “The Design Team went on to shrink the Arena twice to achieve their goal of a tight, focused mode that gives neither melee nor ranged playstyles an advantage. Following PTR feedback, they also adjusted the pillars’ placement to better block initial lines of sight.”

The team also explained the necessity of adding a healing debuff, level scaling, and Arena-exclusive consumables. “[…] The New World Design Team wanted combat to shine in a small space where players could outsmart and outplay one another without feeling the need to use weapons in the current meta,” they said. “Early playtests undermined that intention because the Life Staff felt like a competitive requirement. However, the team’s decision to introduce a healing debuff is more than a simple balance solution. This change helps make Arenas all about playing your game, your way.”

“We didn’t want players to feel like they needed to spend hundreds of coins in order to enjoy the game mode,” they added. “Equal consumables and similar levels across teams reward skill, coordination, and communication, but victory isn’t the only intended way to have fun in Arenas. Win or lose, take advantage of these quick matches to improve your combat skills for all of the different PvP opportunities throughout Aeternum.”

The new 3v3 Arenas, along with new PvP currencies, Expedition Mutators, and the next chapter in the Varangian Knights storyline, are now live on the public test realm for those who want to check it out ahead of its release.

More information can be found on the New World official site.