Hello Gamers™,
As you may have noticed, things got a little… weird at New World. I wasn’t here for Halloween last year, so no one warned me about the Cursed video that was for some reason in my personal basement. Not even COVID can stop curses it turns out.
Anyway I watched it, everything got weird, I wanted to drink blood, and now the main menu has been taken over by bats and a red moon and some spooky music (shout Out to our boy Mark Winter).
I am really enjoying the changes to the main menu we have been making with releases. Although they’re minor, they’re refreshing to see. What do you all think of them?
Our next Developer Livestream is coming soon and I would recommend tuning in. SeriousLy, don’t miss it, we have some things to talk about.
Our next minor release (1.8.1) will be coming in November and while there aren’t maps or weapons, we are including a couple of small things I often see requested. We’re trying to balance having minor releases interspersed with our major releases, but that doesn’t happen automatically.
I will have more info to share in the next few weeks, but as the SoP and the stream last week mentioned we are going to be limiting the scope of upcoming releases a bit to really focus on the poLish of existing and upcoming content.
With that being said I wanted to speak on a handful of things that are brought up by the community fairly often. These are things that I brought up with Michael Tsarouhas (our Lead Game Designer) and discussed before we decided they won’t be something we dedicate development time to right now.
I’m thinking a peek into *why* we decide things may help to show that changes aren’t always as simple as they seem to implement into the game. Join us behind the curtain.
1. Disable Team Damage Reflection on CommanDers from their Fire Support call-ins:
Ok, so the reasoning behind this not being implemented is explained by one major scenario, and it’s a good example of a bad apple ruining it for everyone:
You have a Commander who is a turd. This player waits until a bunch of team mates are in range and then calls in a missile barrage on their heads. Not fun, and they deserve the reflected Damage. There are cases where the Commander doesn’t deserve the reflected damage, but to discourage trolling we think this is the better option.
2. The ability to cancel commander calls:
There are a few factors involved in us not introducing this:
- New voiceover lines would need to be recorded, and that is an expensive and involved process - especially when we don’t have a studio at the moment
- There is a complicated question of ‘until what stage do we allow the cancellation of the call’?
- Does this change justify the development time we would need to dedicate to it? Currently we don’t think so.
3. Adding Binds for voice commands:
This one is fairly simple; in an effort to not bloat the settings menu we don’t think this is a smart idea. There is also of course development time involved. These two factors steer us in the direction of prioritizing something else right now.
4. Daytime flashlights:
While this seems super simple, (flashlights are already in the game, just add them to day time!) there are gameplay implications. Maps that have day Lighting have been balanced without consideration for the inclusion of flashlights, so there would have to be a new round of balance testing on every map. It would also likely change a lot in PvP with players having a new way to blind both their teammates and enemies. A simple addition like a flashlight ends up necessitating a lot of testing hours and introduces potentially negative or just plain frustrating situations when it comes to PvP.
5. Quickdraw Grip should be sling, Reload Grip should be a special magazine, etc.:
This is a great example of a slight concession in realism being made in the favour of improved gameplay. If we made the Quickdraw Grip a Sling and the Reload Grip a magazine they would no longer be in the same weapon upgrade category. We deliberately put all these options under one category because as you can see with our supply points mechanic, we have built our weapon upgrade system around the idea of opportunity costs and tradeoffs.
6. Change the colour balance on Tell or Tideway:
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
Digital Gaming League’s (DGL) Season 4 will be starting soon and they have just finalized their ladder structure. If you have any interest in competitive Sandstorm this is a great opportunity to get your foot in the door.
More information on the DGL is available here on their website: https://www.thedgl.com/, but I’d suggest also joining their DiscOrd, which is available here: http://discord.thedgl.org/
On a personal note I will be doing my 4th year of Extra Life in 11 days! I’m streaming for 24 hours and will be raising money for the Alberta Children’s Hospital. If you’d like to stop by the stream (you can even dOnate if you feel like it) I will be live on www.twitch.tv/fatherHank from 10am MST on November 10th. Sorry for the self promo, but it’s all for the children. 100% of donations during this stream will go directly to Extra Life.
Finally this month - I want to expand the ‘Favourite Community Video’ section we started last month, so I’m going to start by giving it a GREAT name. Here are some ideas I got from fellow NWI employees:
- Hank’s Hunks
- Hanky Wanky's Poggy Woggys (???)
- Mikee Fan Club (always accurate if we’re being honest)
- Hanky Panky's Content Hub (they like to rhyme)
There were some solid ideas as well, but I want the final choice to be up to the people filling the section, so I decided to put it to a vote. Click here and let me know what you think we should call it.
This section will appear with every blog and will showcase some content created by all of you.
First off this month, someone had the great idea of creating their Security character on Heroforge. Honestly I didn't think it would work this well, but it looks great. Sadly I've been told there is no Welrod option.
Secondly - OK, so we may have a bug with some Insurgents dressing up as Security right now (it’s being worked on as you read this, unless you’re reading this in the future, then it’s already fixed). This sums it up nicely. Thanks Vodka.
We will also show off my favourite community video of the month. Problem is I chose three, so here are three great videos .
Anyone Else Want Some?
This made me actually laugh out loud, too good to not show off.
Stormtrooper Syndrome Is Real
This man has embodied how I feel during a PvP playtest. Thank you, soldier.
AUG A3 Gun Guide
Great production, great info, one of my favorite weapons lately. Solid 5/7.
Thanks for all the posts, threads, tweets, and other feedback throughout the month, you’re the reason I have a job! Keep it coming. Increasing the quantity of memes would be appreciated too.
I look forwarD to seeing you all during the next stream, and can’t wait to show you… something.
fatherHank