Greetings, Adventurers!
Embark on a new starting experience alongside the release of New World: Aeternum when Season of Opportunity comes to the Eternal Isle on October 15. From repeatable Soul Trials to a free-for-all PvP zone, upleveled endgame rewards, and a 10-player raid, all of our major updates have been driven by player feedback. Some of your favorite events like Nightveil Hallow, Turkulon, and Winter Convergence will return throughout this season with festive rewards, plus a new seasonal Reward Track. Check out the highlights below and then watch our Team Update video.
New PvP Zone: The Cursed Mists
The foggy southwest reaches of Cutlass Keys are a lawless place, where the “Golden Greed” curse of La Esperanza’s treasure drives fortune-hunters to murderous madness. Even the closest of companions are liable to lethally betray one another. Gather Cursed Doubloons and resources, but you’ll have to escape before other looters steal your spoils. We’ll go deeper into the Cursed Mists in an upcoming behind the scenes article.
New 10-Player Raid: The Hive of the Gorgons
One of the most exciting new features coming is our first-ever 10-player raid, the Hive of Gorgons. After defeating Medusa in New Olympus, players will learn of a new threat. The Gorgons have risen, and they’re raising an army of the Hercyne. To stop them, you’ll have to assemble a team of powerful players, enter the hive, and navigate a gauntlet of challenging puzzles and epic boss battles. Look forward to learning more in an upcoming developer deep dive.
New Artifacts
Turn your enemy’s Empower against them, improve your survivability, and more. These 8 new Artifacts, each featuring its own quest line for upgrades, will redefine your playstyle. Here’s a preview of what to expect from their unique abilities.
Cowl of Power Light Headwear
- Desperate Energy: If you hit an enemy while your mana is below 50%, gain 25% increased damage for 4s (10s cooldown).
- Survive: If you get hit while below 50% health, you gain 50% stamina, lose all debuffs, and gain a potion surge that instantly refreshes your next used healing potion (120s cooldown).
- Ghostly Embrace: When you hit an Empowered enemy, dispel two of their Empowers and you gain 10% Empower for 10s (4s cooldown).
- Magician’s Boons: While in Medium armor weight, deal 15% more elemental damage.
- Elemental Affinity: When you hit a target with an elemental attack (not Attunement or Damage over Time) gain 4% Empower for 6s. (10s cooldown per elemental damage type, max 1 stack per elemental damage type).
- Consume: Gain 25% Lifesteal against knocked down enemies.
- Offensive Speed: When you enter offensive stance, gain +20% movement speed for 6s.
- Keen Speed: On critical hit, gain 20% Haste for 7s (7s cooldown).
- Heavy Burden: While above 90% health, attacks inflict 20% weaken for 5s (5s cooldown per target).
New Seasonal Reward Track
The Season Pass gives players a variety of ways to earn new cosmetics, Transmog Tokens, Artifacts, and more! Highlights on the Premium Reward Track include: 1 Set of Seasonal Armor Skin (5 pieces), 9 Seasonal Weapon Skins, 3 Mount Attachments, and 2 Seasonal Emotes. The Free Reward Track is available to all players and also contains unique cosmetic Items, while the Premium Reward Track offers the ability to earn extra rewards for 20,000 Marks of Fortune. We’ll spotlight the entire seasonal Reward Track closer to the release of Season of Opportunity.
Additional Notable Updates
- Repeatable endgame Soul Trials
- Upleveled Sandwurm gear and rewards
- Upleveled Hatchery gear and rewards
- Swimming
- New cinematic storytelling
- Cross-platform play
- Cross-world Arenas
- New starting experience
- Quality of life improvements and balance updates
- Performance optimizations
- Fresh start worlds
- Enhanced controller support
- Player Archetypes
- Combat improvements (stagger PvE enemies)
- Gear Score increase to 725
Seasonal Events
Nightveil Hallow
Baalphazu, Marquis of Terror rises once again, bringing back the Nightveil Hallow seasonal event on October 22. Banish the shadowy demon back to the darkness, don unique costumes, and trick-or-treat for candy rewards with mysterious abilities.
Turkulon
Satisfy your hunger for carnage with the succulent Drumstick of Death Flail skin when Turkulon returns on November 19. Hunt down the Feathered Avenger of Death and his ‘fowl army’ to earn unique, event-specific items. There are also other desirable rewards, like the Grand Gobbler War Hammer and a giant Turkey Leg, waiting to be served.
Winter Convergence Festival
Icy winds and glimmering Gleamites fill the air once again during the Winter Convergence Festival in December. Visit Winter villages, meet the Winter Wanderer, and thwart the Winter Warrior before a forever winter blankets the land. You can even earn limited-time rewards, including festive skins, emotes, housing items, and more.
