New World to Drop 'Fresh Start' Status From a Server to Help Boost Population
New World will begin a process that will remove the “Fresh Start” designation from a server for population reasons. The affected world, Sutekh, in the Asia-Pacific region, will be changed over tomorrow, May 24th.
In a blog announcing the status change, the team noted that Fresh Start worlds have been active since November 2022, and have been their own insular spaces for adventuring in Aeternum. No one has been allowed to transfer to a Fresh Start server, although recent changes mean that players have been able to start transferring off of them to legacy servers if they wish.
As for what drove them to make this decision about Sutekh, it’s a matter of population, and this is the first step to hopefully get to a healthier and more active population.
“In accordance with our initial promise when Fresh Start worlds were introduced, we will refrain from merging a single remaining Fresh Start world in a region if its population falls below a healthy threshold. Nonetheless, abandoning a world is not an option, so in an effort to sustain and grow community numbers for eligible worlds, we will remove the «Fresh Start» designation and provide the impacted community with time to recover and restructure before considering further remedies.”
Considering the mention of the need to consider “further remedies”, it seems like the population on this server is at a level that has fallen way below the desired level. After the change is made, anyone can transfer between Sutekh and Delos in the Asia-Pacific region. The New World team is hoping this move, plus a bonus event to encourage and help transition and progression, will help stabilize a healthy population.
“Welcome Party” the special event, will run for 14 days, from May
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