New World Heart of Madness update detailed

eurogamer.net:

Ahead of March's public test realm (PTR) rollout, the New World team has shared more information on upcoming update Heart of Madness.

This update will conclude the story of Isabella, and promises players an «epic final showdown» following their pursuit back to Shattered Mountain. In the aptly named Tempest's Heart, players will venture into a «corrupted dimension of reality» as they seek to uncover the secrets of Isabella's past within her «corrupted mind».

New World's team has said that the Tempest's Heart is an «endgame expedition». As such, it is recommended that those looking to take on its trials should be at level 60, with a Gearscore of at least 550.

Thankfully, there will be a new weapon for players to use as they enter this next chapter of New World's story — The Blunderbuss.

This is a ranged weapon, and the first of New World's artillery to scale on strength and intelligence. There will be two weapon mastery trees for the Blunderbuss, which will mean players can pick a distinctive playstyle when wielding it.

First, there is the Containment tree, which is «all about closing the gap and unloading hot lead into your enemies face» (sounds chill).

Then there is the Chaos tree, which has more focus on distance and explosive damage.

The Heart of Madness update will also offer players new experiences, such as different encounters in the wild. There will additionally be a «huge swath of bug fixes» for the game when the update goes live.

The New World team has promised that there will be even more information on the «PTR release of this update» coming soon. Then in time, this update will be implemented into the main New World servers for all to enjoy.