New World's new update has added a new weapon and new enemies
Use the Void Gauntlet to beat up the Varangians
While New World seems mostly to be occupied in a war against exploits like duping, forever firing off fixes or disabling features, this week brings an update focused on adding newness. That's nice. The 'Into The Void' update introduces the magical new Void Gauntlet, a weapon which can be used to heal or harm. You can perform violence upon new enemies too, because various Varangian forces have arrived to plunder the island.
So, developers Amazon Game Studios describe the Void Gauntlet as a "magical damage/support hybrid weapon". Scaling off both Intelligence and Focus, the Hole Fist has two weapon mastery trees, one which focuses on close-range Void Blade damage and the other offering both healing and debuffs through its Orb Of Decay. Plus it makes nice colours and lights.
As for the Varangians, they've come to Southeastern Aeternum to find magical weapons for their boss. They come in forms including the Varangian Hewer, Varangian Scout, Varangian Knight, and Varangian Archer. Get out there and obliterate them so fully that they respawn on a timer because the universe cannot fathom how completely they are ruined, thinks it must be a mistake, and decides to reform their bodies when it thinks no one is looking, hoping no one notices its accidental hiccup in the laws of reality.
Also, while Ed's plea for mounts in New World is yet unanswered, the patch has added a 10% speed buff when you're running on roads out of combat.
See the Into The Void update page for more info and patch notes. It should be live now. Though whether it'll stay live for long, who could say!
However, something not anticipated is apparent changes to the endgame. Many folks are griping about increased grind, and particularly things becoming tougher for solo players.
In the complete opposite direction from post-launch content, Alice Bee recently heard one of the developers talk about how they changed the game's concept before launch: how New World transformed from a toxic survival horror game into a juggernaut MMO.