New World January Community Q&A Talks Content Plans, More Reward Updates, Main Story and Fighting Cheats

mmorpg.com:

New World’s latest community Q&A is up, and this time, the devs answer questions on new content between now and a bigger content drop in May, faction imbalance, reward reworks, main story quest improvements, and more.

The latest Forged in Aeternum began with a clip of a question later asked about not having new content until May.  The team clarified that updates are ongoing, mentioning the current PTR that features the group finder and cross-realm Expeditions, new artifacts are coming, a 10-person trial, Year of the Dragon event, and main story quest updates (with two solo trials) between now and then. Events willreturn with improved rewards too, so there will be stuff coming between now and May, when we can expect some bigger updates. 

There have been some main story questline bugs frustrating players, and that’s also a priority to fix, with the team looking for feedback if you’re affected by MSQ issues. More main story quests are coming and the team acknowledges that delayed content originally planned for Season 4  is coming, but the extra time to polish it should mean fewer issues.

More reward reworks are on the way, this time aimed at replayability. It is a priority, since they are adding new trials and additional content that is designed to be run over and over. They didn't go into detail on what this will look like yet, but It will be happening and they'll give more info in time. Replayability was also in mind for easier Expedition entry and hen the team added gear acquisition changes like two preset perks and a random third perk on gear. Expect more of this.

Faction imbalance also came up, particularly during influence races. The current plan is looking at macro level mechanics to balance the factions. They may choose to make adjustments later, nothing is planned for individual race participation just yet.

Finally, they discussed ongoing battles against cheats and hackers, and acknowledged that it is a hard problem, since those determined to cheat have lots