I can’t believe I’m saying this, but New World is starting to get some very positive buzz now. I’m really tempted to dive in on launch day, which I believe is now sometime in September.

Things that have my wallet twitching:

It’s a buzzword now I know, but talk of Dark Souls-esque combat (not in terms of difficulty, but in terms of mechanics, with dodge-rolling, shields and the like).
Connected to that is a lack of hot-bar based gameplay, which I’ve grown fairly tired of over the years. I prefer to feel more connected,, which is why I used to love ESO. That’s suddenly feeling quite dated, so having another mmo that fits that bill is attractive to me.
They say they’ll have full controller support in place for launch. I suspect they’ll try and reinvent the wheel somehow, which often ends up in frustration, but that’s a biggie for me, especially as constant mouse clicking is getting more and more painful as I get older.
There seems to be a survival lite element, with camp building and crafting etc. From what I’ve seen it’s pretty well thought out.
PvP is entirely optional, and there’s a lot of PvE to get through. I’m a care bear, so that’s all great.

Things that might make me not bother:

It’s bloody Amazon, I find it hard to believe they’re not going to squeeze me dry at some point.
Lag. I’ve seen some YT channels mention that busy servers can cause that very connected DS-style combat to get ridiculously disconnected with half second delays between button presses and outcomes.

Let’s be honest. I’m 99% gonna get it, and the servers will suck for days no doubt. I hate to admit it, but I haven’t been this intrigued by an mmo for years. It looks like the modernisation of the genre I’ve been waiting for.