This page lists all information on the Alpha Test Update for New World. Read on to learn more about its release date and patch notes.

Alpha Test Update Release Date

Released on October 20, 2020

New World released this Alpha patch on October 20, 2020. The Alpha Test Update focused on balance, introducing a new weapon, and new mechanics for experimentation.

Source: New World Official Site

Patch Notes: General Updates

General Updates

Housing will now display the following:

• Decoration score.
• Number of items you have placed.
• Maximum count on the decoration UI.

Progression Updates

Progression Changes

• Reduced the speed of leveling and increase the relative value of questing XP .
• Reduced the XP players get from Corrupted Breaches.
• Reduced the XP players get from killing creatures.
• Reduced the Weapon Mastery XP required to level up weapons by 25%, to compensate for the lower XP from killing creatures.
• Reduced delivery missions XP & rewards.

Attribute Changes

• Increased the attribute pool to add a meaningful amount to gear and introduce diminishing returns to increase build variety.
• Increased the amount of attribute points you get from leveling.
• Added attribute points to gear.
• Adjusted focus attribute to be the primary scalar for Life Staff, it no longer affects cool down rate.
• Note: Our long-term goal is to have Focus be the attribute for healers / support characters, while Intelligence becomes the attribute for damage dealers / mages.
• Gems no longer give attributes but instead provide elemental damage for weapons and family banes for armor.
• Diminishing returns were added to all attributes.

Loot & Gear

Gear Changes

• Adjusted level requirements and rarity mapping for gear, in preparation for a strong end-game gear chase.
• Gear now has a specific level requirement (previously all gear from a tier was available at a single level threshold).
• The level requirement of a piece of gear is based on its gear score.
• Higher rarity gear has a lower level requirement than lower rarity gear with the same gear score (making rarity even more valuable).
• Rarity mapping change so that legendary gear can now be crafted and dropped from the world..

Gear Perks

• 16 new perks added to the game.
• 9 perks that will reduce the weight of specific classes of items. For example Gourmand's Burden will reduce weight of raw and cooked food.
• 7 perks that will affect threat generation.

Patch Notes: Combat & AI Updates

Combat & AI General Updates

Enemy AI

• New Threat System (Part 1) - Adjustments to make enemy targets more understandable and controllable:
• Introduced a new threat system where a single threat value is calculated per player. Higher threat greatly increases the chance to be selected as the enemy's target.
• Created logic for how threat is calculated. Currently damage and threat perks are the main determined, but expect specific attacks to add / remove threat in the future.
• Note: Healing does yet affect threat generation (this will change for Life Staff users soon).

Combat

• Per weapon cooldowns - Provides more options in combat and makes weapons selection even more valuable:
• Each weapon will now have independent cooldowns, meaning you can use all 3 abilities on your hatchet and then switch to your warhammer and use all three of its abilities.
• Weapon switching is sped up enabling you to more easily switch between weapons and create combos between them.
• You can now dodge roll without stamina after being stuck in multiple consecutive reactions.
• Abilities interrupted or canceled before the active frames of the attack will no longer be on cooldown.

Spear

• New melee weapon offering both long distance pierce damage and some ranged capabilities.
• Scales primarily on Dexterity but also benefits from Strength.
• New quest line for Legendary Spear (Heavensplitter).

Zoner Skill Tree

• Specializes in keeping enemies at a distance and throwing spears from range.

Impaler Skill Tree

• Specializes closing the gap and quicker attacks that impart status effects.

Balance

Hatchet

• Berserk reduced to 10 seconds.
• Berserking Endurance reduced to 2 seconds.
• Cull the Weak changed to Heavy attack.
• Rejuvenating Kills reduced to 5%.
• Relentless Fury reduced to 5%.
• Reduced homing on 2nd and 3rd light attacks.

Life Staff

• Decreased speed of light distance by 50% and increased cooldown to 25 seconds.
• Fixed healing abilities not providing mastery experience.

Backstab Adjustments

• Any melee attack that hits an enemy's back now gets backstab damage bonus.
• All melee weapons currently have a 1.3x backstab damage bonus (Note this will be tuned per weapon in the future).
• Backstabs no longer cause knockdowns.

New World Related Guides

All New World Patch Notes

Latest Game Patch

New World Update 1.2.1:
Patch Notes and Release Date

Previous Patch Notes

Previous Patch Notes
New World Update 1.2	New World Update 1.1.2
1.1.1 Update	Into the Void Update 1.1
1.0.5 Update	1.0.4 Update
1.0.3 Update	1.0.2 Update
1.0.1 Update	Launch Update
Open Beta Update	Closed Beta Update
June Alpha Update Part 2	June Alpha Update Part 1
In-Game Store Update	May Alpha Update
Ice Bound Update	Quest Design Update
The Empress of Ebonscale Reach	Forge and Fury Update
Honing the Craft Update	Secrets of the Swamp Update
Alpha Test Update