New World: Check Out What the Greatsword Has to Offer

A new update is coming next week to New World. One of the things it’s bringing is the Greatsword. This is a powerful two-handed blade that uses martial techniques, instead of sheer power. It's also adaptable to different offensive and defensive situations. That's just the tip of the iceberg and today, we'll take a closer look at this weapon.

Let's start with the gameplay design and its core design is centered around attacks. It's all about relentless offense paired with aggressive defense. As mentioned, the Greatsword can adapt to almost any situation. Players can use it to make wide sweeping strikes when fighting against groups of enemies. It can also work against single targets through a few specialized skills.

Functionality

To get a better idea on this weapon, let's take a look at how the Greatsword fares against other weapons:

• Great Axe
  • Weaker than: Less pursuit options.
  • About the same as: DPS.
  • Stronger than: Better buff/debuff application.
• War Hammer
  • Weaker than: No stuns.
  • About the same as: Abilities that cause reactions.
  • Stronger than: Faster attacks/DPS.
• Sword/Shield
  • Weaker than: Fewer defensive actions. Can't protect allies as well.
  • About the same as: Block stability on par with light shields.
  • Stronger than: Higher range.
• Hatchet
  • Weaker than: Slower attack speed.
  • About the same as: Good self buffing.
  • Stronger than: Higher range.
• Spear
  • Weaker than: Less crowd control options/spacing tools.
  • About the same as: Similar range.
  • Stronger than: Sweeping attacks instead of linear ones.

Damage Scaling

For this weapon, the team of New World wanted to push its unique aspects through even Strength and Dexterity damage scaling. This should give players more flexibility when it comes to choosing a secondary weapon. Details include:

• Greatsword
  • Strength: 80%
  • Dexterity: 80%
• Great Axe and War Hammer
  • Strength: 100%
  • Dexterity: 0%
• Sword and Hatchet
  • Strength: 90%
  • Dexterity: 65%
• Spear
  • Strength: 65%
  • Dexterity: 90%

HUD Concepts

Here are some early HUD concepts, including pros and cons for each:

• Highlight/Icon Over the Weapon Slot
  • Pros:
    • Something similar was done for Sword/Shield.
    • The Shield icon is shown in the corner of the Sword icon.
  • Cons:
    • Weapon icons are in the corner of the screen, meaning the player must take their eyes off of their character to check.
• ​Colored Highlight Over the Stance Status Effect
  • Pros:
    • Calls attention to an already existing game element.
  • Cons:
    • Status effect icons can move around as the player receives more of them.

Learn more about the Greatsword here. New World is available on PC.