New World first started hosting its Public Test Realm back in November 2021, two months after it was first released. Given that New World was riddled with issues and bugs, having the player community test upcoming content and features would provide the devs with plenty of valuable feedback. This does not mean that all bugs would be addressed by the Public Test Realm, but it would definitely help the development team determine its next steps and priorities when it comes to content updates.
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On the official New World website, the team shared details about the upcoming February 2022 Public Test Realm, which will open February 3, 2022, 10:00 AM PST, or 6:00 PM UTC. Right off the bat, the team stated that no new content like the New World Void update would be implemented in the PTR. Instead, the changes would focus on improving overall gameplay, player combat, PVE features, the Outpost Rush, in-game crafting, and more.
In particular, weapon swapping in New World will be improved. Swapping weapons while doing other actions like dodging, using reactions, etc., will no longer be interrupted. For player combat, adjustments have been made for dodging, blocking, jumping, and more. QoL fixes are introduced for PvE features, and the devs have reworked some parts of the Outpost Rush. Crafters will be pleased to know that some EXP leveling requirements have been adjusted, and Trade Chat has also been implemented for those who want a specific space to go to market.
Though all of these changes and fixes seem well and good, players will have to test them out themselves to determine if they balance New World out enough so that exploits will not happen. Given that the February Public Test Realm focuses more on quality-of-life changes, players may not feel there is enough content for them to participate. And since a player’s PTR character cannot be transferred onto the game’s real servers, it may be quite a challenge for New World to get participants for the test server.
New World is now available on PC.
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