New World Devblog Details Creating the Fire Storm Heartrune, and What Makes it Different

mmorpg.com:

New World’s  first new season, Fellowship & Fire, will be out on March 28th. One of the new features in the update is the new Fire Storm Heartrune. A new preview goes behind the creation of the new Heartrune, its function, and goals behind this new option.

Fellowship & Fire is the name–and theme–of this first season, so the Fire Storm Heartrune fits right into that. Combat Designer Josh Hurley says that theteam took inspiration from the Empyrean Forge Expedition and ran with that, leaning into the fire theme. Initially, they looked at the enemies in the expedition to see if something they did could be a starting point for the Heartune, but “the enemy attacks weren’t exactly what we were going for or felt too similar to attacks or abilities that players could already do, so we leaned into coming up with something a bit more unique while utilizing the theme of fire”.

The concept of “fire bending” thus became their jumping off point.

Heartrunes are themed, so Fire was already selected. Next, they had to Figure out what roles were covered with the existing Heartrunes in the game, and then see what they could do differently with this one within the fire theme. Since this one is coming with the new seasonal model, and not just a temporary event or a new AI boss, this also impacted design.

When it came to goals, and finding place for the Fire Storm Heartrune to occupy, they were able to create it around a close-mid ranged situation. These situations could mean, using this Heartrune as a tool for engagement or casting towards a fleeing enemy. 

Fire Storm will follow terrain, since it is the game's slowest projectile. The slow nature meant that it was colliding with objects in the world, so the team needed a solution. “If you