The January Public Test Realm (PTR) for New World is officially open. This is a separate server where you can try out all new features before they come to the live servers.
If you’ve purchased the game, you should see a new entry called “New World Public Test Realm” on your Steam library. Keep in mind that you’d still need to download some files before you can play, so make sure that your PC has enough disk space available. What can you expect in the game’s first-ever PTR?
Expedition Mutators
One of the new features in the PTR is the Expedition Mutators. Basically, all of the enemies that you can find in Expeditions - may it be “named” enemies or just normal ones - have certain augments that will make the content even more challenging.
You’ll get better rewards for completing such Expeditions. You can gain new gear and resources to help increase your power level, so you can tackle more difficult content. This is planed to rotate through a combination of Expeditions and Mutations, with 10 difficulty levels per Expedition Mutation.
You are encouraged to rise through the ranks and eventually reach the max difficulty level. To make sure that you get a chance to experience a variety of mutations during the PTR period, the rotations will be placed on an accelerated schedule.
Do keep in mind that your Gear Score is important here, especially if you want to increase your chance of success. Don’t worry, you are given a 600 Gear Score loadout for this month’s PTR.
You can learn more about this on the game’s official website.
Umbral Shards
Aside from Expedition Mutators, another neat feature added is the Umbral Shards system. Umbral Shards allow you to upgrade your item with a 600 Gear Score all the way to Gear Score 625. This is crucial if you are thinking of getting to the more difficult Mutated Expeditions. Crafting an item with a Gear Score of 600 also increases your Expertise for that particular item.
Umbral Shards can be acquired in three ways:
- Completing Mutated Expeditions
- Crafting a Gear Score 600 item when your Expertise with that item is also at 600
- Opening a Gypsum Cast when your Expertise for that item is also at 600
These shards can only be used on an item if it satisfies two conditions. First, the Gear Score of the item should be 600. And second, your Expertise for that particular piece of equipment is 600 as well.
So, what can you say about the new features in New World’s January PTR?
