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

Secrets of the Swamp Update Release Date

Released on November 19, 2020

New World released this Alpha patch on November 19, 2020. The Secrets of the Swamp Update focused on balance, polish, a new zone, and a new skill.

Source: New World Official Site

Patch Notes: Spotlight

New Zone: Reekwater

Reekwater Story Quests

New Quests and NPCs lead you on a path to discover the origins of these Azoth infused waters, the life cycle of the Dryads, and the role the Ancient Guardians played in this region of Aeternum.

New Enemies

The following enemies have been added:

• 4 Swamp Dryads - Angry Earth creatures who use the power of the bog and azoth to fight the player.
• Undead Pirate Brute - Imagine the brute as a pirate with a cannon on his back... Enjoy!
• 2 Swamp Fiends - One of these fiends charges toward the player and explodes, while the other prefers to overwhelm unwary adventurers with a flood of melee attacks.
• Creepers - A new type of tendril with some new attacks and strong poison damage.
• Sufferance of the Elders - A swamp version of the beast that pulls minions from the ground. Throws a mean spike.
• The Protector of the Source - A boss version of the Sufferance of the Elders, with increased difficulty. The Protector consumes minions to grow stronger and throws out homing spikes.

New Skill: Fishing

Life on Aeternum is hard. Sometimes you want to slow down, relax a little, and enjoy the beauty of the world. There’s no better way to do that than by terrorizing some fishes with a pole in your hand and a bucket of fish bait at your side.

Fishing System

• Added Fishing as a new gathering skill.
• Added a wide array of fish to all the waters (fresh and salt!) of Aeternum.
• Added fishing rods as a new tree within the Engineering tradeskill.
• There are 5 tiers of fishing rods to be crafted.
• There are 11 unique perk types available for fishing rods.
• Added fishing hotspots to greatly increase the bite speed and rarity of fish .
• Your ability to find hotspots increases with your Fishing Skill
• Gather, cook, and loot to find bait that increases your chance of catching rare fish.

Fishing Quests

The first inhabitants of Reekwater found the marshy waters teeming with all manner of fish, and quickly set out to map and take advatage of this new and valuable resource. The quality, and quantity, of fish found throughout the area was far superior to any others found across the island, attracting the best and most esteemed fishing enthusiasts on Aeternum.

Patch Notes: UX / UI Updates

UX / UI Updates

Additional Nameplates

The nameplate system currently has three levels of details (LODs): Full, which shows everything; Medium, which shows the name and guild crest but hides other non-key info like the Chat Bubble; and Small, which is just the small diamond version.

• The new default setting displays 5 Full, 10 Medium, and 31 Distant. (Previously, only 1 Full, 4 Mediums, and 15 Distant nameplates would be displayed at once.)
• Added a setting for number of nameplates displayed, so you can decide how many nameplates you want to see at once according to your taste (and what your PC can handle).

Pinned Quest Updates

• You can now pin 6 quests instead of 3.
• Pinned quest icons on the map are indicated by a pinned icon, making them easier to spot.

Ability Quality-Of-Life

• The Weapon Mastery tutorial for new characters has been tuned slightly to make it more clear how ability slotting works.
• Visual effects (VFX) have been added to abilities when they are slotted in the Mastery screen.

Patch Notes: Combat & AI Updates

Combat & AI General Updates

Enemy AI

NEW THREAT SYSTEM (PART 2)
It will be clearer to the player which enemy they will be targeting and they will be given ways to manipulate their threats. Read the previous release notes to learn more about the threat system.

• Healing and blocking now generate threat.
• The Sword Mastery tree has been updated to make two abilities generate threat. (Players can expect updates to other mastery trees later.)
• Added a taunt to Shield Bash.
• Added an AoE threat bonus to Intimidating Rush.

ELITE ENEMY SYSTEM (PART 1)
Elite and champion enemies are adjusted to be more challenging and offer unique gameplay twists.

• The elite system allows us to assign 1-3 traits to enemies that vary gameplay. These can be specifically assigned or random.
• There are 3 categories of traits:
• Offensive - includes elemental damage, damage bonus, block damage bonus
• Defensive - includes increased health, increased armor, increased elemental resistance
• Utility - includes explodes on death, frost aura
• Traits will be added over time.
• An inherent elite buff has been added that all elites and champions will get. This buff makes Grit attacks unbreakable, but reduces the block damage they do (to allow tanks to better handle multiple enemies).
• Difficulty for level 50 combat has been increased across the board. Please note this will require even more tuning moving forward as the end-game is refined.

Combat

Targeted Healing
Added a targeted healing system to make it easier for support players to heal their allies.

• When Healing Pulse or Divine Embrace are activated, the friendly player closest to the caster’s reticle will be locked on. Pressing Left Mouse Button will cast the heal ability on the target. Target lock will disable after cast is complete.
• Target lock can be switched to other friendly players using Mouse Wheel Up and Down or by moving the mouse in the direction of the next friendly player.
• Target lock can be switched to manual targeting by pressing Middle Mouse Button/Wheel. Lock can also canceled by canceling Heal ability.
• Users can also self-cast healing spells by holding CTRL and pressing the ability key.
• Note: in a future build, targeted healing will be refined and the HUD will be modified to help easily identify healing targets in and out of groups.

Critical Hit System
More ways for players to diversify their builds have been added.

• All weapons have been assigned a critical hit chance. Currently they range from 3-5% depending on weapon, but expect more variation and weapons focused on critical hits in the future.
• All weapons also have a critical hit modifier which determines the extra damage they do when they do crit.
• Critical hits and backstabs don’t currently get called out in damage text with orange color like headshots do, but they will next release!
• Note: Perks that modify crit chance and modifier will be added in the future.

Balance

Musket

• Trap cooldown increased to 30 seconds.

Life Staff

• Smite upgrades changes:
• Decreased the bonus damage of Empowered Smite to 15%.
• Decreased the additional bonus damage of Ultimate Smite to 25%.

Sword

• Increased the slow effect duration from Intimidating Rush to 4 seconds.
• Note: Please see New Threat System above for further Sword changes.

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