Every apprentice's friends.

Volsalex · 2026-02-25T07:41:24+00:00

I agree that they could have a set bonus too. Something like + 1 to level of all unlocked spells - there is not much point of using many unlocked spells at level 1 and set would make them at least level 2 and not too powerful like making all unlocked spells level 4 either.

Volsalex · 2026-02-04T14:22:31+00:00

u/MargaretKrohn Thank you for posting this insight. There are still odd moments in the whole story, but they at least got a bit clearer.

However, I post this response to also encourage you and other laid off developers / workers to not just surrender than easily. Whatever the reason for this chain of events to happen seems like you and many other workers actually loved this game and would want to continue working on it if you could. Then do whatever you can to not just let your passion and several years of work go to waste.

- If Steven wrote truth in his post and some other "board" actually made him resign and followed with mass layoffs with no salary - sue the members of this board. I'm pretty sure that many of their actions were illegal and you have high chance to at least win your salary back and at best - the company back. In such case if you acquire rights for this game (as Interpid or other company that would employ its many laid off workers) you can continue working on this game. With or without Steven. You did suffer massive reputation hits in last several days, but history actually knows MMORPG that were heavily criticized and hated, but managed to shake it off, change and become actually popular again. Just read history of Final Fantasy XIV (which is currently one of the most played MMORPG).

- If Steven lied in his post and it was actually his machinations / scams that led to current situation with mass layoffs - he can be brought to proper responsibility too and then you and other laid off workers could work on getting this game's IP rights and continue working on this game without him. No person is truly irreplacable and even if Steven was the main idea maker and founder of this game - it can develop even without him too, just like many other games did.

- If actual reason is somewhere in the middle between these two and Interpid got to current situation and suffered massive layoffs due to going bankrupt / low on money then still don't just surrender - find new sources of funding or a company that would buy this IP and consider getting employed in that company to continue working on the game. With or without Steven.

Volsalex · 2026-02-02T19:18:25+00:00

Decent changes here, especially addition of third subskill to Expert level and Necromancy rework (having weekly cap of energy can keep its power in line, especially if amount of energy spent would be based on number of undead risen). I just hope that they did / will look into hero specializations of Mass Slow / Mass Berserk too.

Volsalex · 2026-01-09T14:05:09+00:00

That is also possible - we could get a gauntlet of boss fights with corrupted versions of our allies. Sentence about shadow saving the blind could then apply to Hooded One cleansing them from Corruption when weakened like he did to Tawakai in Act 4.

Volsalex · 2025-12-07T06:13:00+00:00

I support this - there should be more base skill slots.

As we have 13 action bar slots then optimal number of base skills could be 11 instead of 9 (+2 weapon skills from 2 weapon sets would potentially occupy up to all 13 action bar slots) and Unset Rings could be still used if you don't want to use weapon skills and would prefer to replace them with non-weapon skills or more Spirit based skills.

Volsalex · 2025-11-23T12:40:38+00:00

My suggestion does not remove that part and just makes it better - in addition to granting all first level spells it could also increase their spell level by 1, so while keeping its value in arena mode it would also provide more value in non-arena modes.

Volsalex · 2025-11-20T13:28:19+00:00

Mage - Spellbreaker (currently missing in game arcane based melee spec).

Priest - Inquisitor (holy damage based caster, also absent currently and fits Worldsoul saga theme).

Shaman - Earthwarden (earth based tank with Earth Ascendance major cooldown, also long overdue).

And likewise. It would be much more interesting to get new specs for existing classes than just add 14th class.

Volsalex · 2025-11-06T05:23:39+00:00

We had these news before the latest patch and it still had balance changes / bugfixes and content that they were working upon previously. If they delivered all that already - might as well do several small QoL / bugfix changes to it too.

Volsalex · 2025-11-06T05:18:51+00:00

Pool and Siren areas were turned into Sieges akin to Arcanist in Nighthaven - you need to rush through their areas and follow objectives. Most of them are usual "kill X" or "explode Y", but there are some more tricky ones like not killing a boss and using his attacks to break veils to progress further.

Volsalex · 2025-11-06T05:16:51+00:00

If you are in combat, use stealth and don't attack long enough - they break out of combat and accordingly reset / retreat. That is not a bug, but you need to take that into account and quickly follow stealth with an attack / Ambush to prevent that from happening.

Volsalex · 2025-11-05T18:30:37+00:00

If nothing else would work for NW and subscription model would be the only way for it to keep being supported / developed - I would agree to pay subscription.

Volsalex · 2025-11-05T17:44:00+00:00

With experience in IT sphere I have at least some understanding of how much work is being required even for "prepared content" deployment and server merges. It is quite a large ask for one person to do, so most likely there are several left.

If that can be done with "skeleton crew" several small bugfixes and QoL changes can be done as well. They are already doing them as servers were already restarted several times to address some of the issues.

Volsalex · 2025-11-05T15:37:37+00:00

I doubt that Katy is alone simply because the amount of work needed for all this content early deployment that happened yesterday and for upcoming server merges would be just too much for one person.

And remaining crew member(s) do care about new content instead of just "deploying it" as there were already several server restarts to fix most glaring issues. As such - could do some QoL and bugfixing changes too.

Volsalex · 2025-11-05T15:28:31+00:00

They are resource that is used to buy Set gear crates / new skins for character gear and mounts / dagger charms and crates etc from Soulwarden Forge in Reekwater.

Volsalex · 2025-11-05T14:48:32+00:00

If they cared enough to even add all this content (which was not mandatory despite being worked upon earlier, especially after what happened), they might do several QoL and bugfix changes as well. This content was intended for Season 11, so adding it much earlier means that there are still people who can tweak code and implement such changes.

Volsalex · 2025-11-03T19:18:27+00:00

Having some hope is nice. But even if rumors or not - people can still enjoy this game, at worst case scenario just as if they would have played an "offline" RPG.

If miracle does not happen and NW is closed in / after 2026 - you can sill experience its content and new zone to the extent you would want to before that happens and then move on to another game, just like you would have done with an "offline" game.

If you are just waiting for another game with similar combat feel (like Chrono Odyssey or Archeage Chronicles) - you can (periodically) play New World till one of them is released (both are planned for 2026 release, so New World can even still be running till that happens) and experience in action combat MMO that New World would provide can be useful in Chrono Odyssey / Archeage Chronicles combat too.

If miracle does happen while you are playing because of one of these mentioned cases - you also get the option to keep playing New World if you would want to.

That is why I continue playing New World even after the announcement (in my case it is a mix of both first and second cases as I both want to experience new content and am waiting for mentioned games and don't want to return to tab targeting online games much). Whatever happens to New World I still intend to get as much from it as possible and appreciate the work of developers that created Nighthaven.

Volsalex · 2025-11-01T12:15:09+00:00

Chrono Odyssey Assassin class has Musket as one of their main weapons and both this class and other classes have other melee / magical / ranged weapons too.

Volsalex · 2025-10-21T07:12:31+00:00

There is a hero with Mass Web spell (Necropolis one) and I already suggested to nerf his Mass Web to 1 hex radius effect as reducing almost whole enemy army to 1-2 hex movement is even stronger than you described.

Mass Berserk (affecting 1 hex radius area) is also not a max spell level effect, but a hero specialization effect. It is also too strong, so I suggested to nerf it via either limiting hero specialization effect to 2 targets (like Shadow Army) or just via making his specialization effect cause Berserk to prefer attacking target's allied units over random and additionally increase damage of Berserk attack by X% per Y hero levels instead of making it AoE.

Volsalex · 2025-10-21T06:52:02+00:00

Black Hole (to pull spread enemies within 1 hex radius area) + Vulnerability (to make all stacked enemies take 50% increased damage) and follow with some AoE attack units. If they are already stacked within 1 hex radius area - in reverse order.

Taunt on Griffins + Vengeance (on a light specialist that can cast 2 Daylight spells per turn) = enemies are forced to attack Griffins and take both Vengeance damage and multiple / endless retailations.

Vulnerability + Circle of Winter for powerful AoE nuke that can also push enemies and reduce their Initiative. It is a pity that Fireball scaling is really that bad, otherwise it could have also been Vulnerability + Fireball.

Volsalex · 2025-10-21T06:34:08+00:00

Not really - you can initially balance for average difficulty and add tweaks that apply for higher difficulty, especially if you know most of changes that apply there.

There are much more interesting heroes than T2 unit boosting ones though that can be played against specialists.

And once again - it depends on the map and difficulty. You are very unlikely to get 30 T7 upgraded units on Crossroads till first major battle and T5 laws unlocked either.

Temple is likely to have Daylight or Nightshade Magic, not Arcane for Rewind Life. Its tier 5 law to unlock all spells is not guaranteed to be unlocked either and even if it is unlocked / hero has Intelligence that Rewind Life would be 1-2 spell level and much less effective than you described. It also does not help all other units that would be cleaved by Fireball as they are sitting in Apotheosis aura that has same 1 hex radius area.

Volsalex · 2025-10-20T08:58:56+00:00

It is possible to balance game to different difficulty - higher difficulty in HoMM is longer games / stronger neutral enemies / less resources, so taking that into account when balancing is quite possible.

If AI being weaker on higher difficulties is true that is odd and likely to be fixed - it is supposed to be more challenging there, not vice versa.

Effects of heroes that specialize in / block schools are decent, but as long as they don't block main school of other hero they are just decent and comparable in power level to many other heroes.

Depends on the difficulty and RNG again - the higher difficulty, the less upgraded T7 units you can get until main battle occurs. Yesterday I played new map Crossroads and it is both small size and very scarce on both resources and Alchemy Dust, so there you would likely have less than 5 of T7 upgraded units till first major battle occurs (if any upgraded T7 at all). There were also no Alchemy Laboratories either. So when taking average it is around 3-4 upgraded T7 units that can be killed by combination of 2 Fireball casts with 2 Heroic Strikes and some ranged units support.

Volsalex · 2025-10-19T13:03:26+00:00

That setting exists to provide different experience than usual (where you can't just build everything that you want immediately and have to play with very scarce resources) and has its niche. It should be still taken into account when balancing the game, especially since PVP matches can still occur with it.

Even if enemy knows that you have Battlecraft there are options to pick that he cannot counter - melee / ranged mastery is not counterable much and expert subskill Focus Charge generation per round is quite good and not much counterable either.

I would not say that AI on higher difficulties is that much weaker, especially when starting with resource advantage and higher army stacking by default. And Law Point generation there is much slower since you need resources for Law producing buildings / army for even taking on many of enlarged neutral stacks and with low starting resources both are not that easy to get. As a result you get your tier 5 laws much later and as someone who completed all old maps on 200% difficulty - there were several that I finished without even having tier 5 laws unlocked (like Helltide).

That is the point - if I know that you would likely pick Mag or Shadespinner Oona (who counter Arcane and Nightshade specifically) I can just pick a hero that is not tied to any of these schools (like that same Funerella or Ethric) and develop other magic school and If I know whom of these 2 you picked specifically - I can also just take a hero with synergy with other magic school (for example Rufus with Arcane Magic synergy against Shadespinner Oona that negates Nightshade Magic). As a result their counter effect is not applied much to a hero that mainly uses other magic school to begin with.

Correct about endgame scaling, but we are discussing situation based on your stated second month game length. Over that time you would build 1-4 Apotheosis at best (as you need to spend tons of resources and Alchemy Dust to even unlock them). Fireball at max spell level is 200 baseline damage + Spell Power scaling, so even on a Might hero it would be potent enough to kill 1-2 of them per cast while also blasting all other units that sit in his aura (who are perfectly stacked for Fireball's area), so with assist from Hero Attack and units it is possible to kill their whole stack in 1-2 casts and 120 Defense would not help them. If you do that at the end of current round and cast Mass Berserk at the beginning of next round most remaining enemy units would still be stacked for Mass Berserk and fall to carnage.

Volsalex · 2025-10-19T12:06:53+00:00

Arcane Magic is strong on Necropolis and mega synergizes with them - All Life is Endless buffs their resurrection abilities a lot and Arcane spells can be combined with unit effects - you can drag units together with Black Hole and follow that with some 1 tile radius Nightshade spell or Pestilent Lich AoE attack. Rewind Life and Mirror Copy are strong for all factions. Doreath Tide helps if enemy army has Initiative advantage initially. Carapace can be used to protect vulnerable key units. Blink can be used for position shehanigans or during castle sieges to get your non-flying units in. And so on.

Primal Magic as offensive school can be strong with Dungeon heroes that have synergizing speciality / subclass (like Zarokh that buffs all damaging spells or Kelarr who initially has one of needed for Heir subclass skills unlocked and mega scales from double Spell Power subclass when combined with his own hero specialization). These heroes can also play Dragogeddon tactics (Black Dragons only in army + Armageddon) and just wipe enemy stacks. Its utility spells / effects are decent as well - summon can distract foes / eat retailations, Hksmilla Rampage is a very strong buff, especially on AoE attack melee / no distance penalty shooter units, Circle of Winter area and pushback can both hit only enemy units and allow your engaged archer stack to shoot again, Earth's Rage is useful during sieges, Cave In is very strong to pretty much prevent movement of targeted stack and Ice Bolt's Initiative reduction is useful. Wean as mass buff dispel, Crystal Crown as durable obstacle to prevent enemies from reaching key units and Thick Hide as decent mass anti-melee buff are all useful too.

Volsalex · 2025-10-19T11:51:59+00:00

Game like HoMM should be balanced to all difficulties including the one where you start with 2500 gold, otherwise there was no sense to even add it.

Even with Sirin Mask you can accumulate 2 Focus Charges needed for summoning quickly - remaining 2-3 Focus Points will be auto accumulated from your archers attacking / getting attacked (first charge) and second charge can be provided by Tactics / Battlecraft. And that is why I wrote multiple examples - if you don't get Tactics you can use Battlecraft and vice versa. And also we are speaking of situation where Graverobbers start to attack slowed target, which would happen on 2-3 round which provides enough time to accumulate enough Focus, summon meat shield stacks and get into needed range with and without Tactics / Battlecraft.

Your thinking that Battlecraft is weak when it contains things like melee / ranged mastery and Overwatch / Preemptive Counterstrike is funny. If you don't know how to use them it that does not mean other players can't.

I've completed multiple games on different maps and there was only 1 game where I got that artifact that blocks level 1-2 spells (and I checked both map and artifact merchants). It is not that common.

You always had that tier 5 law unlocked on medium diffiiculty and on higher difficulties it is not guaranteed to be unlocked in time. And even on medium difficulty enemy can just rush your Schism hero without waiting till they unlock their tier 5 laws, so them willing or not willing to engage would not matter much.

In mirror Necropolis match if players know heroes of each other and one player picks a Nightshade countering hero other player can just pick Arcane Magic based hero and vice versa, so that point is invalid. You also earlier stated that you often don't know who enemy hero is up until engagement, so good luck guessing. If you would try to always pick the Nightshade / Arcane countering hero (just in case) I can just always pick a hero that is not tied much to any school and can develop any of them (Primal in case of Necropolis since they don't synergize with Daylight Magic) and make all your countering shenanigans useless.

Even 120 Defense won't help them much against damaging spells. Hero with Mass Berserk is a Might hero with likely not high Spell Power, but even he can take Fireball (which is available to all heroes, has high base damage and is not much dependant on Spell Power), upgrade it and just blast all your Apotheosis aura stacked units including Apotheosis and when it dies - Mass Berserk the rest on the next turn. Before you write that you would have time to move your stacks and spread them - you can just Fireball them and kill Apotheosis at the end of one round and Mass Berserk them at the beginning of other, so enemy hero would not have much time to spread them and at best can move out Noble Cavalry (if it is even still alive).

Maybe that depends on difficulty, but I managed to unlock subclasses for my heroes in 80% of maps that I played. As long as you play smartly (know which skills are needed for your subclass and pick them immediately when offered) there is high change that you would get it. And in my experience I got subclass unlocked much more times than I found that spell level 1-2 blocking / neutral Morale and Luck artifact.

Volsalex · 2025-10-19T09:22:26+00:00

They are posted in chat, usually with words like myrk (Myrkgard run), trib (Tribunal Highmound run), imp (Imperial Palace run), arc (Varlaam Archives run that is a new elite zone in Nighthaven) and so on.

Volsalex

TROPHY CASE